Using critical service-learning pedagogy to prepare graduate nurses to promote health equity

Background: Despite calls from professional organizations to prepare a nursing workforce with the requisite skills to address social determinants of health (SDOH), there is little guidance for nurse educators about how to actively promote student learning of these complex issues. Method: We applied a critical service-learning (CSL) pedagogy to enhance graduate public health nursing curriculum and support learner skill building in approaches to combat health disparities by addressing the underlying social conditions. Results: Course content and critical reflection activities were built incrementally across four courses and semesters to introduce and apply antioppressive frameworks, encourage students to examine their personal identities of privilege and oppression, and examine historical context and systems of power in public health settings. Conclusion: CSL supports student development of structural competence and their understanding of approaches that can dismantle inequitable systems by addressing SDOH that contribute to health disparities.