Nursing and Social Justice – a Scoping Review Protocol

Background: Nursing is historically, ethically, and theoretically mandated to champion social justice. Objective: To investigate how the concept of “social justice” has been explored in nursing research regarding extent, range, and nature. Methods: The five-stage framework by Arksey and O'Malley was adopted, and JBI and PRISMA guidelines further informed the study. The search strategy comprised three steps: an initial search, a systematic search in several databases, and finally, a reference, citation, and gray literature search. A total of 55 studies meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the analysis. Results: Almost all the included studies were authored in the English-speaking world. Most studies were published from 2014 onward, and qualitative methods were by far the most prominent. A total of 13 specific definitions or understandings of social justice were identified. Five themes were identified across the included studies: (1) education, (2) concept, (3) theory, (4) public health and community nursing, and (5) maternal and child health. Conclusion: The literature on social justice and nursing is limited, albeit growing. The conceptualization of social justice within nursing is becoming broader and more nuanced. Only a few studies have focused on specific patient groups or specialties.