As we look at America today, we must look to the health of our nation. Not only do we not prioritize many of the needed life skills in school, but many students also graduate high school with a minimal understanding of society and the world. Not once was I taught how to manage money, how to properly invest, what good nutrition or diet should be, the importance of kindness, how to exercise properly, ways to manage stress, organization, how to cook healthy meals, etc. I have been extremely lucky to find a husband who has pushed me to learn. We have been together since we were 18 and together have prioritized healthy living in all aspects of our lives. If we did not push to be better from a young age, would I have ended up as many others from my hometown? Addicted to drugs, overweight, struggling with mental health, or even as an alcoholic.
The social determinants of health involve where we are born, grow, live, work, and age (Chelak & Chakole, 2023). As we look towards becoming Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) we must look towards how best to improve all aspects of these areas for our patients. I believe it is critical to focus on our education system as providers. Our educational system now is not moving forward but is stagnating and broken. Think of all the children who could benefit from education on how to be a successful and healthy adult. We could reach children who live in underserved areas and provide them with tools that they may not attain at home. If just 1 child has a better outcome in life from early intervention, that is a win in my eyes. If we raise a generation who prioritizes health promotion, I see a generation who will eliminate disparities.
As APRN’s we should be educating our communities and anyone who will listen, that we need to do something now about the social determinants of health within America and globally. Imagine how different our practice would be if we treated less patients with preventable disease. With a decreased strain on the healthcare system, access would likely improve for all populations via reduced need for services. It is proven that early interventions to improve socio-emotional and physical wellbeing are effective (Tollan et al., 2023). It is downstream effect: teach children how to live better, they will grow up learning the skills they need to become healthy adults, an entire generation will be raised with significantly better overall health. This is similar to the old adage on teaching a man how to fish versus providing him a fish. If he learns to fish for himself, he will have an endless supply of fish. If we teach our children how to be healthy, they will become healthy adults with the skills to be successful.
References:
Chelak, K., & Chakole, S. (2023). The role of social determinants of health in promoting health equality: A narrative review. Cureus, 15(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.33425
Tollan, K., Jezrawi, R., Underwood, K., & Janus, M. (2023). A review on early intervention systems. Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 10(2), 147-153. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-023- 00274-8
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ReplyDeleteMariah, You discuss education, what does that look like from an APRN prespective?
DeleteHi Mariah,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your blog.
Your discussion reminded me of my experience as a psychiatric registered nurse. At the time, my adolescent patient was experiencing psychosis symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and mistrust related to schizophrenia (Skehan & Divir, 2025).
My patient would be reporting having unsafe thoughts, mistrust of antipsychotic medication regimen or the interdisciplinary team. These critical concerns increased the risk of medication nonadherence, rebound of psychosis, seizures, and tardive dyskinesia which are involuntary movements of the face, tongue or mouth, dystonia, myoclonus, and akathisia (Jibson, 2025).
Factors that contribute to medication nonadherence for my patient with schizophrenia are financial concerns, lack of trust in treatment plan, stigma, difficulty accessing medication, undesirable side effects, and lack of social support (Seena et al., 2021, p.4-5).
As future advanced healthcare professionals we must collaborate with each other to enhance medication adherence, trust, empathy, and provide access to healthcare services for the purpose of breaking the cycle of health disparities and inequities (Betancourt & Green, 2025).
References:
Betancourt, J. R. & Green, A. R. (2025). The patient's culture and effective communication. UpToDate. Retrieved from: https://www-uptodate-com.husson.idm.oclc.org/contents/the-patients-culture-and-effective-communication
Jibson, M. D. (2025). Second-generation and other antipsychotic medications: Pharmacology, administration, and side effects. UpToDate. Retrieved from: https://www-uptodate-com.husson.idm.oclc.org/contents/second-generation-and-other-antipsychotic-medications-pharmacology-administration-and-side-effects
Seena, M. C., George, R., Krishnakumar, P., & Ravindran, R. K. (2021). Noncompliance to Treatment among Persons with Mental Illness. Indian Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, 18(1), 43–48. https://doi-org.husson.idm.oclc.org/10.4103/iopn.iopn_54_20
Skehan, B., & Divir, Y. (2025). Schizophrenia in children and adolescents: Treatment overview. UpToDate. Retrieved from: https://www-uptodate-com.husson.idm.oclc.org/contents/schizophrenia-in-children-and-adolescents-treatment-overview
Mariah,
ReplyDeleteYour post was very well written and comprehensive without losing its accessibility. I was very frustrated upon entering adulthood how few things were taught to me as growing up and how much harder that has made many things in my life. We did have home economics in which we learned to sew and cook, however there was no emphasis on healthy eating, meal planning, or budgeting for groceries. I also had in my macro/micro economics class attempt to make a budget for life after graduation where we took whatever job we wanted to have and looked at the average pay for our area, look at real apartment listings in the newspaper, and attempt to budget out with estimates for car payments and utilities. Unfortunately, my teacher had not included student loan debt into this calculation which makes the budget significantly smaller for literally anything else. We expressed frustration to him about the high cost of housing and how unlikely we were going to be able to afford much of anything without 2-3 roommates, and when he realized that this was true and he had not taken into account how bad the economic climate had gotten lately, he abandoned the project quite quickly.
I am now a full adult (though I still don't necessarily feel like one) and I still am lacking major skills and understanding in terms of finance, home upkeep (why does everything keep breaking at the same time???), and overall just keeping myself functioning as a productive member of society. I was fortunate enough to have small amounts of help as mentioned above, but there are so many people who receive none of this. Lopez et al. did a study looking at if childhood educational interventions in vulnerable populations could improve healthy habits (2021). This study found that children mirror their environment and so when they have parents that don't bathe, wash hands, or eat healthy levels of fruits and vegetables, their children do the same. These habits are then passed on generationally. They found significant increases in the adaptation of healthy habits in the children when they were provided with educational interventions at school. The parents and teachers were also included in the educational interventions to ensure that the healthy behaviors were demonstrated by those around them and provide a healthier environment overall (Lopez et al.). As you said, by providing these educational opportunities to children at schools, we are able to reach many more than may not receive the information at home. Including life skills courses into schools is so important to ensure the best chance at success for our children.
Reference
López, M., Alcoceba, I., Castro, M., Cao, M., García, S., Frutos, M., & Jiménez, J. (2021). Assessment of an educational intervention to improve healthy life habits in children living in vulnerable socioeconomic conditions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9), 4495. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094495