Advancing Social Determinants of Health Research through A CBPR Lens: A Short Course

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R25 · $234,489 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Project Summary It has become increasingly clear that the future of nursing and healthcare practice demands an understanding of social inequities and the development of educational and research strategies to affect population-level change and address health inequities. Studies on the efficacy of methods and standardization of social determinants of health (SDOH) curricula have sowed the seeds for improved teaching and assessment standards and best practices, however the primary focus of SDOH education has been on clinical practice rather than research. Research must compel actionable change and address a plethora of research gaps related to social factors, upstream and downstream factors, life course factors, biological mechanisms and pathways, global data gaps, lack of political will, and the impact of sex and gender on SDOH. Nursing in particular plays a critical role in simulating and accelerating SDOH research and historically has always taken the lead in addressing social issues in healthcare and education, particularly among vulnerable populations. Social justice is practically inherent to nursing and the nursing field can cultivate a culture that promotes SDOH education, collaboration, and research among other health care professionals and communities so that SDOH can be fully integrated into patient care, education, and research. The next cadre of nurse scientists, as well as those from other aligned fields, must be educated to develop and apply health equity and SDOH lenses as primary foci through which to design and implement research that considers population and community health, prevention and health promotion, and the systems and models that affect the provision of affirming, inclusive care for diverse populations. We propose a short course that will prepare nursing and other health professional researchers to plan a community-based participatory research (CBPR) study, integrating intersectionality considerations, to investigate and address the impacts of SDOH on the health of vulnerable or underserved populations. The short course is increasingly viewed as a useful tool for continuous training to update and deepen knowledge in various fields and across topics, making it a prime fit for the goal of responding to the urgency of improving faster research translation of scientific SDOH knowledge into practical applications for nursing scientists and other scientist in aligned fields.

Key facts

NIH application ID
11011101
Project number
1R25NR021373-01
Recipient
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator
Sherrie Lee Wallington
Activity code
R25
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2024
Award amount
$234,489
Award type
1
Project period
2024-07-18 → 2027-05-31