Students' knowledge, perceived access, and attitudes toward population health integration in undergraduate nursing...

To address the growing population health challenges, the nursing workforce is expected to possess competencies of population health, which has been officially included as a new essential component in nursing and strongly advocated by nurse educators worldwide. However, no previous studies have explored the relevant opinions among nursing students, who act as recipients, beneficiaries, and key stakeholders in nursing education. This study aimed to explore students' population health knowledge, perceived access to relevant training, and attitudes toward integrating population health content within undergraduate nursing curricula.

A cross-sectional observational survey was conducted using a self-developed questionnaire among nursing students from a Chinese university in January 2026. Data collected included demographic information, population health knowledge levels measured via both self-assessment and objective evaluation, perceived accessibility of undergraduate training related to population health competencies, attitudes toward integrating population health into undergraduate nursing education, and preferred integration models.

A total of 163 nursing students who provided valid responses were included in the final analysis. The mean self-assessed and objective scores of population health knowledge (rated on a 5-point scale) were 2.98 ± 0.10 and 0.71 ± 0.06, respectively. Less than 20% of participants reported having frequent or very frequent access to educational opportunities targeting core population health competencies. Nearly half of the students agreed or strongly agreed with the importance of population health and its inclusion in nursing education, particularly at the undergraduate level, and 73.0% expressed their willingness to systematically learn about population health. Furthermore, 44.2% students believed that population health should be longitudinally integrated into the current undergraduate nursing education framework, while 21.5% preferred the "lecture-based elective course" as pedagogical model.

Findings indicate insufficient preparedness in population health competencies among future nursing professionals. Integration of population health into undergraduate nursing education is necessary and generally acceptable to students.