2025 Theses Doctoral

Effect of a SDOH Classroom Activity on Nursing Students’ Attitudes Toward Poverty and Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Saska, Elizabeth

Nurse educators have the responsibility to prepare student nurses with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to deliver equitable care to diverse populations. The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) are known to have a significant impact on individual health and need to be addressed when providing care to individuals and populations. Professional nursing education organizations have offered recommendations to increase education of SDOH content in the curriculum. However, information about how to integrate such topics in courses outside of higher level, population health and community health specialty courses is lacking. Evidence-based teaching strategies that are accessible and easy to integrate at the foundational level for incorporating SDOH content need to be available to nurse educators. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a SDOH classroom activity on attitudes toward poverty and student satisfaction and self-confidence in learning in prelicensure nursing students enrolled in sophomore level courses.

A quasi-experimental, multi-site, two-group, pretest-posttest design was employed for this study using convenience sampling at three private universities in the United States. All eligible students participated in the SDOH classroom activity as part of their sophomore level course; students who consented to participate in the study had the option to complete pretest and posttest surveys. The intervention group participated in a SDOH video case study and faculty led structured debriefing, while the comparison group participated in a SDOH paper case study and faculty led structured debriefing. There were 98 paired responses to the pretest and posttest Attitude Toward Poverty Short-Form (ATP-SF) and 174 responses to the posttest Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning (SSSC).

An analysis of the results revealed no statically significant difference in attitudes toward poverty or satisfaction and self-confidence in learning between groups based on type of case study. There was a statistically significant difference in attitudes toward poverty between pretest and posttest results for all participants. Mean scores were high for both student satisfaction and self-confidence in learning among all participants. These findings suggest that regardless of case study type, the intervention had a positive impact on attitudes toward poverty and satisfaction and self-confidence in learning. This study revealed that a case study activity paired with a faculty-led structured debriefing is an effective teaching strategy for including SDOH content in entry level nursing courses.