title: A critical review of social and health inequalities in the nursing curriculum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Social and health inequalities are a reality around the world and one of the most important challenges in the current age. Nurse educators can respond to these challenges by incorporating curricular components to identify and intervene in social and health inequalities.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine how social and health inequalities have been addressed in the nursing curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  Informed by the work of Paulo Freire, a critical literature review was performed to examine how social and health inequalities have been addressed in the nursing curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  In July 2015, we searched for articles published from 2000 to 2015 in ERIC, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scielo, MEDLINE and LILACS databases. Main search terms included "disparity" or "inequality" and "curriculum" and "nursing." We included studies published in academic journals in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 20 articles were included in this review. Most of the articles (15) were from the United States and described educational experiences in implementing courses in nursing undergraduate curricula. Limited experiences with graduate nursing education were identified. Social and health inequalities were approached in these articles through elements such as social justice, cultural competence, cultural safety, and advocacy. A concern to reduce social and health disparities was noted. We identified three major themes in the articles included in this review: 1) elements in the curricula that can contribute to reducing social and health inequalities; 2) educational and research strategies used to address the theme of inequalities; 3) a focus on socially vulnerable populations to increase awareness on social and health inequalities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that nursing education initiatives align with the recommendations from the World Health Organization to address disparities. There is also a need to identify existing conceptual and practical content on inequalities in the nursing curriculum through future research.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Pharmacy, Federal University of Alagoas, Campus AC Simões, Av. Lourival Melo Mota, S/N, Tabuleiro do Martins, Cep: 57072-970 Maceió, AL, Brazil. Electronic address: celia.rozendo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Célia Alves
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Rozendo
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing University of Alberta, 3rd Floor Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 87 Avenue, Edmonton T6G 1C9, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: avs@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santos Salas
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing University of Alberta, 3rd Floor Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 87 Avenue, Edmonton T6G 1C9, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: bcameron@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cameron
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D054521:Cultural Competency / Q000193:education; D003479:Curriculum; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D012935:Social Justice; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: Health disparities; Nursing curriculum; Nursing education; Social inequalities