Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Individuals' health is influenced not only by their medical condition and the choices they make, but by social factors largely outside of their control, such as access to housing, food, and education. Indeed, the World Health Organization claims that such factors continue to lead to drastic inequalities in life expectancy rates within and between countries. Research has long acknowledged the need to address these social circumstances –- known as the social determinants of health –- within our broader approach to health care. It is therefore crucial that healthcare providers, such as nurses, learn to look beyond patients' immediate physical needs and recognize the social determinants of health underlying their health issues. Truly, nurses -- who work closely with patients and observe firsthand how the social determinants of health affect them -- are in a unique position to respond. Many Canadian nursing baccalaureate programs are now teaching students about the social determinants of health; however, very little research has been done to show whether students understand and implement this knowledge in their daily practice as registered nurses. As such, this project will explore how recently-graduated nurses employed in an acute hospital setting apply their knowledge of the social determinants of health in their everyday practice. Through one-on-one interviews, nurses will be asked how they address the social determinants of health in their daily practice, and what facilitates or impedes this. Themes will then be composed to capture nurses' views. By verifying these initial findings with key expert stakeholders in national policy and education roles, final recommendations will then be made related to undergraduate nurses' education.