Given the objective of the study – to identify the main factors for teaching the concept of social justice in the nursing curriculum – we first selected nursing educators using a targeted sampling method. Nursing educators with over 5 years of service experience and from among prominent educators working in nursing homes involved in social justice development were selected. The data from the study then brought us to students and nurse clinicians. Among students, students in the final year of study, who are exemplary and active in social fields, and among nurses, those with more than 2 years of service experience, who are professionally and actively accepted by the system in the field of social justice, such as volunteer activities in the promotion of public health, were selected for interview. The authors included John A.`s optional program. The Burns School of Medicine offers a series of activities over a four-year period to encourage medical students to expand their knowledge and skills in terms of social awareness and cultural competency in relation to their future practice as physicians. Upon completion of this program, participants earn the Dean`s Certificate of Distinction in Social Justice, an innovative program in the Faculty of Medicine. These efforts enable medical students to transcend cultural competence and become fluid in critical consciousness, which will enable them to understand different health beliefs and practices, engage in meaningful discourse, engage in collaborative problem-solving, engage in ongoing self-reflection, and as a result, to provide socially responsible and compassionate care to all members of society. In recent decades, growing social and health inequalities around the world have highlighted the importance of social justice as a core value of care. Therefore, adequate training of nursing students is necessary to prepare them for social justice in health systems. This study aims to identify the main factors communicating the concept of social justice in the nursing curriculum. “This pandemic shows the inconvenient and hard truth about the social determinants of health,” Dawes said. An important aspect of the program is the integration of face-to-face teaching with clinical experience.
The concept of gaining knowledge and experience to understand the patient`s narrative is a key component of this pilot program described by Kumagai and Lypson.7 Through didactic and experiential learning, the goal is to engage participants in exactly this type of integration. By encouraging students to participate in courses, readings, and lectures focused on various aspects of social justice in health care, while encouraging students to be active in local communities through volunteering, community projects, and/or research, students will integrate social justice concepts into action and experience. In order to identify publications that address the requirements of medical education in cultural competence as well as current recommendations for the implementation of these standards, the authors systematically searched the PubMed database. The terms searched were: cultural competence, education; cultural competence, education; social justice, education; Social justice, program development. Relevant articles focused on social justice and cultural competency training as part of the medical school curriculum. Only English language studies were selected and the search was limited to the last ten years. Studies and reviews were limited to those published related to medical education in the United States and Canada, as this is the scope of LCME governance. Reviews were also limited to basic medical education and excluded specialist or clinical-level training. Search criteria included social justice nursing school curricula and cultural competency training to compare similar programs. The authors searched for other publications in the bibliographies of those already discovered, as well as in literature searches containing descriptions of important publications on these topics. Perry DJ, et al. Exercising the essential and effective freedom of nursing for social justice: a humanizing model.
2017;40(3):242-60. Twenty-six articles were discovered that address the topic or relate to the concept of social justice or cultural humility. The concepts are consistent with the objectives supported by the Report on the Future of Medical Education in Canada (2010), the Carnegie Foundation Report (2010) and the LCME Guidelines. This JABSOM pilot program is built on a solid foundation for understanding the social determinants of health. This requires medical students to work with students and faculty in education, law, social work, business, public health, and various community organizations. With a holistic definition of health that includes things like access to affordable housing, healthy food, quality education, and equitable legal action, the need for collaboration becomes obvious. It is important to note that we strive to promote an attitude of self-reflection, which is central to the development of a “critical awareness” essential to the practice of socially responsible medicine.6 The principles of social justice go beyond the recognition and understanding of cultural differences to promote justice and dignity for each individual. The hope of this program is to promote the ideals of humanitarianism and social responsibility throughout medical education so that it can become a lifelong endeavor.
The decision not to see injustices does not mean that they do not occur. Structural violence exists. Racism exists. Homophobia exists. There are violations of human rights. We are the administrators of a profession that requires us not to do harm, but also to help everyone live a healthy and productive life. We need to consider the biopsychosocial contexts of our patients – the neighbourhoods they live in, the work they do, and the lives they live. To promote active responsibility and understanding of this duty for future patients, the authors proposed an elective program accepted by the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) at the University of Hawaii. Starting with the 2015 vintage, JABSOM launched a four-year optional program leading to its first Dean`s Certificate of Distinction in Social Justice. The program is dedicated to the need for future doctors to improve health care.
The certificate covers a variety of activities that cultivate humanity and social responsibility throughout medical school, with the hope that students will continue such activities in their practice and have the skills and desire to care for those who need it most. This certificate program challenges its participants not only to internalize the required cultural competency goals, but also to translate their understanding of biases and inequalities into tangible progress towards eliminating inequalities. Values are essential components of the nursing profession. The institutionalization and development of professional values such as social justice contribute significantly to the future of this profession. The few courses on ethical values and discontinuity in the courses presented (for example, no courses on ethical values are offered to doctoral students) were important points mentioned by participants. In this context, according to one of the participants, educational approaches to the presentation and transmission of ethical values for students are of great importance. In this context, Einunanimously discussed the ineffectiveness of traditional approaches such as lectures in institutionalizing social justice among nursing graduates and highlighted the benefits of affective learning approaches [19]. According to the findings, the conference is the predominant approach to teaching social justice in Iran`s nursing faculties, which is an ineffective teaching approach, according to the research literature.
This is probably due to the large number of students and the limited time for each academic course. While cognitive learning approaches are based on principles and concepts, affective learning approaches support the integration of knowledge with personal emotions, attitudes, and beliefs [34]. Neumann found that affective educational approaches could improve students` understanding and use of ethical values [35]. unanimously emphasized that nursing schools need to apply different strategies with an emphasis on behaviour change in order to successfully institutionalize the concept of social justice among nursing graduates [24]. With this understanding, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. resonate: “Injustice everywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are trapped in an inescapable network of reciprocity, bound by a single garment of fate.
What directly affects someone, affects everyone indirectly” [2]. Social justice is not only a great idea, but an essential part of our responsibility to promote health. We must participate in the fight against inequalities and abuses so that all can achieve health, defined by the World Health Organization as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” [3]. We hope this issue challenges preconceived notions about the role doctors should play in protecting human and civil rights and provides insight into participation in the struggle. As Hawaii`s only MD-granting institution and the primary physician provider in Hawaii`i18, JABSOM is uniquely committed to meeting its students` need to develop cultural humility skills. To help students achieve the goals and recommendations outlined above, JABSOM launched a four-year elective pilot program leading to the “Dean`s Certificate in Social Justice,” the first Dean`s Certificate in the JABSOM program.