Aligning SDOH Pillars to Learning Outcomes and Assessments

Abstract

The World Health Organization and other health agencies have identified several social determinants of health (SDOH) that negatively impact patient health and contribute to health inequity. Nurses are at the frontlines of healthcare and are uniquely situated to assess for SDOH and address health equity. This chapter examines SDOH and nursing education, particularly the alignment between learning outcomes and course assessments. The premise is that learning outcomes are an integral component of curriculum development to serve as the basis for formative and summative assessment. The chapter discusses course-level assessments concerning learning outcomes for SDOH in pre- and post-licensure nursing programs. As part of the curriculum mapping process described in Chap. 5, the alignment between the learning outcomes, course resources, and assessments was analyzed using a two-phase qualitative and quantitative approach and a curriculum mapping matrix. Findings indicate that SDOH pillars covered vary by course goals and content covered. Social, cultural, and law/policy pillars were the most recurrent, and topics and assessment content often overlapped. The most used assessment types were discussion forums, case studies, writing assignments, and quizzes. The chapter concludes that constructive alignment is an appropriate strategy to integrate SDOH within course objectives, learning activities, and assessments. It is a practical approach for creating nursing programs that thread SDOH successfully into the curriculum.