Jul 2026· The Journal of Nursery Education· pp.
1-4
· 0 citations· 10 references
Medicine
TL;DR
Adult learning theory fosters relevant, empowering learning, while SMART goals offer a structured, actionable pathway for nursing faculty to achieve sustainable genomic integration in curricula.
Abstract
Background
Persistent gaps in faculty capacity hinder the integration of genomics into nursing curricula, highlighting the need for strengthened faculty development.
Method
The NIH-funded R25 "Translation and Integration of Genomics is Essential to Doctoral Nursing" (TIGER) program is designed to strengthen genomic literacy among nursing faculty. Grounded in adult learning theory, TIGER incorporates SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goal development as a pedagogical strategy. Midway through the program, participants engage with faculty and peers to review progress, share implementation approaches, and address barriers.
Results
Participants (N = 62) developed SMART goals spanning genomic education, research, and practice. ChatGPT-assisted analysis of TIGER 2022 to 2024 goals identified key themes, including strengthening personal genomic knowledge, conducting curriculum mapping, integrating genomics into courses, and advancing genomics-focused scholarship.
Conclusion
Adult learning theory fosters relevant, empowering learning, while SMART goals offer a structured, actionable pathway for nursing faculty to achieve sustainable genomic integration in curricula.
This commentary is deliberately framed as a focused extension of the original study’s individual-level findings to the institutional level, rather than a stand-alone organizational literature review, and its scope has been kept correspondingly concise.
PURPOSE
This clinical focus article describes innovative, evidence-based approaches to teaching health literacy in communication sciences and disorders (CSD) academic programs.
METHOD
A targeted review of the literature on health literacy strategies and instructional methods was conducted to identify comprehensive and relevant approaches for educating health care students. Selected strategies were intentionally aligned with evidence-based, active-learning practices and broader higher education pedagogical frameworks to promote student engagement, academic achievement, and long-term knowledge and skill retention. This clinical focus article was not subject to an institutional review board approval process.
RESULTS
Ten health literacy strategies that address both individual- and organizational-level competencies were identified. More than 25 instructional activities were developed to operationalize these strategies within CSD coursework.
CONCLUSIONS
Embedding heath literacy instruction through active, evidence-based teaching methods provides CSD educators with a practical and adaptable framework for curricular integration. These approaches prepare future speech-language pathologists and audiologists to deliver patient-centered, health-literate care and support health literacy practices across clinical settings.
Shanon Y. Brantley, Amy Shollenbarger· American Journal of Speech-L...· 0 citations
This research investigated the development of empathy skills among nursing students through a comprehensive framework. It addressed critical dimensions such as the definitions and significance of Empathy in healthcare, characteristics, developmental guidelines, implementation strategies, and assessment methods. The primary goal was to create an extensive knowledge base to enhance empathy skills essential for effective patient-centered care. The study led to an innovative online self-training program for nursing educators. This program comprised two key projects: the first focused on deepening faculty understanding of Empathy in clinical contexts.
In contrast, the second provided tools and strategies for integrating empathy training into the nursing curriculum. The initiative equipped educators with vital resources by fostering an empathetic educational atmosphere, promoting better learning outcomes for nursing students. The research also emphasized the role of academic administration in enhancing teaching quality at the institutional level. It aligned with the school-based management model, positing that empowering Faculty directly influenced student development. The study aimed to yield statistically significant improvements through a research and development methodology, ensuring the practical application of its findings across Boromarajonani Colleges of Nursing nationwide and enhancing healthcare education and patient care outcomes.
Health literacy has become one of the strongest social determinants for health and is an important indicator of health inequalities and health outcomes. The fast-changing dynamic nature of health literacy requires regularly adapted educational initiatives for nursing students. This article describes an innovative approach to successful, sustainable and interprofessional implementation of health literacy in academic nursing education (master’s level).
A strong practical focus and interprofessional exchange are intended to have a lasting impact on nursing students. Health literacy in academic nursing education may be implemented in five steps: raise awareness, integrate health literacy into academic nursing education, follow an interprofessional approach, promote application-oriented learning, integrate into nursing practice and research. This strategy can assist educators and nurse institutions to implement or expand evidence-based health literacy initiatives on an interprofessional basis within nursing education.
Students gave positive feedback on the course and appreciated its relevance. To ensure relevance, the content is evaluated annually by the teaching staff and external experts who implement health literacy projects. Students regularly present their work at conferences and on relevant homepages.
This educational innovation strategy equips nurse educators with the necessary knowledge to strengthen health literacy within and through nursing.
L. Lampersberger, Franziska Großschädl· HeilberufeScience· 0 citations
Planetary Health (PH) content is increasingly recognized as essential for medical education. For longitudinal integration across the curriculum, medical educators can serve as change agents and multipliers. A targeted training that conveys both PH knowledge and pedagogical skills can empower medical educators to incorporate PH topics into their teaching. Following the curriculum development cycle by Kern, we developed a training for medical educators of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin teaching in the medical curriculum. The learning objective was to enable medical educators to effectively integrate PH content into their courses. The program was delivered in a blended-learning format: input on the interconnectedness between human and planetary health was provided online via a learning platform prior to the in-person unit (1 teaching unit [TU]). The face-to-face workshop (6 TU) gave input on Planetary Health as well as didactic input and facilitated discussion of personal experiences with climate change and its relevance to teaching, thereby enhancing participants’ change agency. Further, participants developed teaching materials for their own courses and tested them via a micro-teaching exercise. As follow-up the participants revised their teaching materials-based feedback on their micro teaching (1 TU). The impact of the workshop was evaluated according to Kirkpatrick’s framework. Eighteen medical educators participated across three workshops, with 13 completing the follow-up questionnaire. Seventeen participants (94% response rate) completed the post-workshop evaluation. Participants reported satisfaction with the content, structure, and practical relevance of the course and rated their knowledge gain as moderate to high. Fifteen participants intended to integrate the developed teaching materials into their courses, and 14 planned to share their materials with colleagues. One year later, nine participants (50%) responded to a follow-up survey; five had integrated the materials into their teaching, and three had shared them with colleagues. A targeted training that actively prepares and supports the transfer of knowledge into teaching practice is well received by medical educators. PH content was integrated into courses by a subset of participants. Beyond the workshop, ongoing networking may further support sustainable PH content integration into the curriculum.
Hélène-Furaha Hauch, N. Kutschke, A. Schuster et al.· BMC Medical Education· 0 citations
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are integrated into a nursing education program at the Universidad Técnica del Norte (UTN), Ecuador and to identify the institutional, curricular and pedagogical factors associated with their explicit incorporation. The study aims to clarify the gap between SDGs awareness and formal curricular enactment in higher education for the health sciences.
The study adopts a sequential mixed-methods design combining qualitative, quantitative and documentary approaches. Data were collected through a faculty focus group, surveys administered to instructors (n = 35) and undergraduate nursing students (n = 498) and a microcurricular review of official course syllabi (n = 45) within the UTN nursing program. Quantitative analyses included nonparametric tests, correlation analyses, clustering techniques and logistic regression, while qualitative and documentary data were integrated through methodological triangulation.
Although faculty awareness of the SDGs is relatively high, their translation into explicit curricular practice remains uneven, with fewer than two thirds of instructors reporting formal integration. Faculty engagement is concentrated primarily on SDGs 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDGs 4 (Quality Education), reflecting disciplinary proximity, while broader socio-ecological goals receive limited attention. Logistic regression analysis showed moderate explanatory capacity (McFadden’s pseudo-R2 = 0.429), indicating that structural and curricular factors play a stronger role in explicit SDGs integration than pedagogical activity alone. Among students, exposure to the SDGs is widespread, but levels of deep understanding are modest, and knowledge is only weakly associated with perceived importance. The micro-curricular analysis reveals that explicit SDGs references are largely absent from foundational courses and become more prevalent in professionalizing and practice-based stages, particularly during the Rota.
The study is limited by its single-institution design and the small faculty sample size, which may restrict statistical power and generalizability. Future research should adopt multi-institutional and longitudinal designs and incorporate direct measures of sustainability competence development.
The findings provide actionable guidance for curriculum governance and faculty development in nursing education. They support the need to institutionalize SDGs integration from early curricular stages, align active pedagogies with explicit learning outcomes and assessment criteria and strengthen program-level mechanisms to ensure coherent and traceable Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
By strengthening the integration of the SDGs in nursing education, higher education institutions can better prepare future nurses to address health inequities, promote preventive and community-based care and contribute to sustainable health systems. Such integration also enhances graduate employability by developing competencies increasingly valued in the global health sector, including sustainability awareness, equity-oriented practice, community engagement and responsible use of health resources. In the Ecuadorian context, and more broadly in the Global South, such curricular alignment has the potential to enhance social justice, public health outcomes and community well-being through professionally trained agents of sustainable development.
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides one of the first empirical, multilevel analyses of SDGs integration in nursing education in Ecuador. By combining faculty and student perspectives with micro-curricular evidence from UTN, it offers an evidence-informed framework for strengthening ESD in health sciences programs, particularly in Global South contexts.
Katty Elizabeth Cabascango Cabascango, Patricia Marlene Aguirre Mejía, Freddy Hernán Villota González et al.· International Journal of Sus...· 0 citations
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