Nursing Student Perspectives and Curricular Insights on Health Equity Content: Findings From a Mixed Methods Study

(1) Explore prelicensure baccalaureate nursing students' perceptions about applying any health equity knowledge gained in school for their future nursing practice. (2) Evaluate whether student perspectives of health equity learning in their programs align with explicit health equity content within curricular documents.

Mixed methods explanatory sequential design.

Curricular documents from nursing programs were analysed for health equity content and quantitised. Nursing students then participated in focus group interviews. Findings were analysed separately then integrated and interpreted.

Three nursing programs participated, including 197 curricular documents from 60 courses. Six students participated in focus group interviews. Most nursing courses contained at least one occurrence of explicit health equity content, but certain topic areas were lacking or absent. Focus group interview themes included the value of experiential learning, the process of learning through the unknown and student conscientisation but not yet fully engaging in praxis. Integration provided contextualisation of results and revealed areas of convergence and divergence.

This mixed method study highlighted areas of alignment and conflict between student perspectives of their learning and explicit content in curricular documents. The study underscored students' perceived value of experiential learning and identified potential content gaps, including historic context and policy, aligning with calls for nurse activism.

To make strides toward health equity in practice, additional focus on health equity-related competencies in nursing education and educational research may be warranted.

Nurses, both globally and in the United States, due to the size of the workforce and their unique role, are positioned to progress communities toward health equity. Nursing education is an important systemic aspect of equipping the nursing workforce to meet complex health and wellness and societal needs.

Journal Article Reporting Standards-Mixed Methods Article Reporting Standards guidelines.

No patient or public involvement.