Teaching social justice principles in nursing: an active learning community assessment exercise.

The commitment to social justice is an essential feature of professional nursing practice (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). Social justice involves critically evaluating major determinants of health, including an individual’s personal attributes, acquired health behaviors, health care accessibility, as well as social, economic, and cultural resources and environments (Reutter & Kushner, 2010). Creating active learning experiences that incorporate social justice concepts in a variety of nursing courses, such as health assessment, may help students to develop the reflective, critical thinking skills required of professional nurses. This article describes how community assessment concepts and social justice principles were incorporated into a junior-level health assessment course.