Perspectives of professors and students on social inequalities in nursing education

Objective: To identify the competencies and teaching strategies to address the inequalities used in nursing education, indicating convergences and divergences in the perspectives of nursing professors and students. Methods: This is a descriptive research, data obtained from an online questionnaire answered by 183 students and 86 professors/coordinators of undergraduate nursing courses from different regions of Brazil. The variables were related to the characterization of participants, themes linked to inequalities, preparation to act on inequalities and strategies to develop competencies. Scores were created to measure the degree of approach to inequalities and agreement on the preparedness to deal with vulnerable audiences. A significance level of 5% was considered. Results: The study included mostly white women, linked to public education institutions in southeastern Brazil. There was a high degree of agreement regarding the approach to inequalities in nursing education, except for the theme of Health Advocacy. Training limits were identified to work with people deprived of liberty, indigenous and quilombola populations. Themes related to inequality are taught especially through outreach actions, lectures/events, compulsory subjects and practical activities/internships. Contradictorily, the classes were indicated as the main teaching strategy for developing the various competencies in the face of inequalities, which must be learned throughout the course. Conclusion: There is a high degree of agreement in the perspectives of professors and students on the approach to inequalities in nursing education, with the exception of the approach to health inequities. The need to expand the view on historically neglected social groups is indicated.