Date of Conferral

5-8-2025

Date of Award

May 2025

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Mattie Burton

Abstract

The primary care setting provides integrated healthcare services where nurses address many healthcare needs, develop patient relationships, and practice in the context of family and community. To provide comprehensive care, nurses must complete a social determinants of health screening that addresses the social factors that impact clinical outcomes. In 2021, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published a nursing education strategy on educating nurses on social determinants of health. This project aimed to develop a staff education program to prepare primary care nurses on the concepts and terminology encompassing social determinants of health, identifying the severity of health inequity, and analyzing the root causes for inequities and social determinants of health. The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project addressed leadership and the nurses’ needs, and it measured the effectiveness of the nurse education program by comparing the scores of a pre test and a post test. A two-tailed t test of 2.1 and the difference between the mean and standard deviation of the pre test (M1 = 0.67/SD1 = 0.20) and the post test (M2 = 0.08/SD2 = 0.86) resulted in the difference of the mean (M3 = 0.19) and standard deviation (SD3 = 0.12); these values showed that the nurses that participated in the staff education program increased their knowledge on health equity and social determinants of health by 19%. Finally, the staff education program closed the knowledge gap and empowered the nurses to manage inequities that affect clinical outcomes and promote social change.

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