ABSTRACT:
In South Africa and globally, human rights protection, with an emphasis on justice for all and non-discrimination principles, is the cornerstone of the law. Martin Luther King Jr. once said there are many types of inequality, however, the injustice in the healthcare system is the most appalling and inhumane. Problem statement: The current global healthcare system perpetuates inequality, therefore undermining the capacity of social justice in nursing. Social justice in the nursing profession and education is not well researched, therefore, nurses are not equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to encourage and promote social justice while caring for patients. Consequently, nursing education is unable to produce nursing students to be social justice leaders because nurse educators lack competency and knowledge of social justice. Hence, in practice, even though nurses may recognize social injustice in the workplace, they shy away from speaking or acting out because they are unsure of the position they ought to take. The objectives of the study are to contextualize the term ‘social justice’ within the context of nursing and develop and validate a model to facilitate the sustainability of social justice in nursing education and practice. The study used qualitative descriptive meta-synthesis. The review followed the seven steps of meta-ethnography developed by Noblit and Hare (1998). Methodological quality of the included studies was assessed with the Critical Appraisal Skill Programme (CASP). Eligible articles were independently reviewed by the researcher and supervisor using the guidelines of Boland, Dickson & Cherry 2017:96). The synthesis revealed five themes: attributes of social justice, the triggers and impact of social injustice, benefits of social justice, impact of social justice, transformative collaboration between health stakeholders. In conclusion, these results should be considered to implement the model and strategies that facilitate the sustainability of social justice in nursing education and nursing practice.