The Utility of Participatory Action Research in the Nursing Field: A Scoping Review

Call to Action: Academic Nursing's Role in Redesigning Health Care to Reduce the Human and Financial Cost of Health Inequities

Health equity is an aspirational goal for health outcomes that can be achieved when systemic inequalities are addressed. The human cost of health inequities is without number; we can and must ameliorate health inequities. This essay summarizes the impact of continued health disparities and inequities in the United States and outlines the ways in which increasing diversity in the nursing workforce and graduating equity-minded nurses can promote innovation and problem-solving to address these disparities and inequities. We then present multiple pathways for nurses in academia to advance health equity.

Community-Based Participatory Research Guided by Critical Caring Theory

While community-based participatory research (CBPR) and other related participatory action research approaches are increasingly being used in nursing research, few of these studies are conceptualized within an extant nursing framework. Instead, CBPR is typically only grounded in socio-ecological and social justice frameworks. However, knowledge is developed in a discipline through research that is conceptualized within the discipline's conceptual systems, frameworks, or theories. This article begins with an explication of the processes and theoretical foundations of CBPR and concludes by offering Falk-Rafael's Critical Caring Theory (CCT) as an ideal theory for reframing CBPR within a nursing science perspective.