Delivering high-quality health care requires knowing more than a patient’s blood pressure, heart rate and weight. Patients are more than these numbers; where they live, what they eat, whether they exercise also play a role in their health. GW Nursing’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students are learning this crucial lesson through a participatory action research project conducted in partnership with the AnBryce Foundation.
“During this project, our nursing students, along with the middle school students whom they taught, learned the importance of social determinants of health and how they can facilitate or impede the making of a heart-healthy community,” said Sandra Davis, the school’s assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, and principal investigator on
this project funded by the NPHF/Astellas Foundation.
This project made such an impact on its community that it was on display in an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture through May 2019.
The middle schoolers learned by completing a PhotoVoice project in which they explored and documented their surroundings by taking photos, writing commentary on what was unhealthy and noting how their environment could be made healthier.
“Children get used to what they see at home,” said Iris Fountain, a parent who attended the Saturday Institute PhotoVoice Exhibit held at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School in December. Ms. Fountain pointed out that neighborhoods in the D.C. area can have as many as three liquor stores on one block that open as early as 6 a.m. “If I notice, children notice it,” she said.
Indeed, one student wrote about the prevalence of alcohol.
“The picture on the left shows people drinking liquor and throwing it away in the streets. This shows that there are drunk people who hang out in the community, and that it is full of bottles of liquor,” one student wrote. “The photo can educate people in my community by showing what most people are hooked on, and telling them to cut down the amount of liquor they consume. The picture on the right is an example of how to improve the community. For every one liquor store you have there should be one organic store too.”
Through this project, area middle schoolers learned not only how to take care of themselves, but also how to advocate for and in their communities. GW Nursing BSN students guided the middle school students under instruction by Dr. Davis and her co-principal investigators, Assistant Professors Karen Dawn and Adriana Glenn, as part of the BSN program’s community health portion.
Social and environmental factors—such as education, housing, places to exercise and healthy places to eat—all matter when it comes to heart disease and risk factors for heart disease. Underrepresented groups, especially African Americans, suffer a disproportionate risk factor burden for heart disease. In addition to being one of the poorest cities in the United States, D.C. has one of the highest avoidable death rates from heart disease of all major U.S. cities.
Earlier this month, Ms. Fountain’s son wrote Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan encouraging him to create more community gardens in public areas. This was the Fountains’ first activity with GW Nursing and the AnBryce Foundation, but it will not be the son’s last as he hopes to attend Camp Dogwood, where BSN students provide first aid to campers, later this summer.
by ERIN JULIUS