Health activism as nursing practice: A scoping review

Abstract

Aims: The aim was to assess the current literature investigating health activism within nursing practice.

Design: This was a scoping review of the literature utilizing the updated Levac et al.'s framework.

Data source/review methods: A search of the CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus and Allied Health databases was conducted for peer-reviewed, English research published between January 2000 and April 2021.

Results: Thirty-one articles met the criteria for inclusion in this study. The included research in nursing and health activism was heterogeneous in topic and method and primarily conducted in North America. Four themes resulted from the inductive thematic analysis: (1) Doing Health Activism, (2) Facilitators to Engaging in Health Activism, (3) Barriers to Health Activism Engagement and (4) Limited Education. Activism was not consistently defined and the term was used interchangeably with advocacy.

Conclusion: There is a gap between nursing scope of practice, and education and skills in health activism. There is limited research regarding health activism and what constitutes as health activism. There is an opportunity to improve health activism awareness and skills within the nursing profession and undergraduate education and to produce nursing research on health activism.

Impact: Health activism is integral to the nursing role, however, evidence suggests nurses lack confidence to engage in activism as practice. This is important for nurses across the world and in all care specialities.

Keywords: health activism; nursing; scoping review.