Penn Nursing Researchers Co-Edit Special Journal Issue About Social Determinants of Health

“No single subject deserves greater attention than eliminating inequities and ensuring equitable health outcomes for all,” says Brooks Carthon, the Tyson Family Endowed Term Chair for Gerontological Research and Associate Professor of Nursing.

The issue’s collection of studies features a range of insights into social determinants of health (SDOH), including:

• How religious beliefs and practices reflect important SDOH and play a pivotal role in lifestyle and health behaviors.
• Insight into SDOH and youth and how institutions that support their daily lives, such as schools, can help protect against depression and anxiety.
• The importance of considering the residential neighborhood and housing status when evaluating access to and utilization of health care, including patient/provider trust and communication.
• Nursing research efforts to address sexual health inequities in Chinese and Israeli Arab college students specific to disseminating health-related messaging about HPV and HIV.
• Observations of health disparities that continue to exist at preterm birth, after cesarean birth, and related to postpartum depression.
• An examination of the validity of the Spanish version of the English Stress-Busting Program (SBP) for Hispanic/Latinx family caregivers of people living with dementia.

“As nurse scientists of color with expertise in minoritized ethnic and racial populations, we did not take lightly this opportunity to serve as co-guest editors on this issue devoted to health equity and the social determinants of health,” says Perez, Assistant Professor of Nursing at Penn Nursing. “This timely collection of studies provides exemplars for further reflection and implications for action.”

Eileen T. Lake, PhD, MSN, MA, BSN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing at Penn Nursing and Associate Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, is the journal’s editor. Bridgette M. Brawner, PhD, MDiv, APRN, the Richard and Marianne Kreider Endowed Professor in Nursing for Vulnerable Populations at Villanova University School of Nursing, is the third co-guest editor of the issue. The editorial is available online. The special issue will be free access upon release.