Nurses' Role in Early Child Development: Exploring the Views of Global Leaders

The early life experiences are considered a strong indicator among the social determinants of health. Global agencies have invested substantial resources and strategies to advocate for early child development. These resources and strategies are deemed instrumental in addressing vulnerabilities and enhancing human capabilities. Nussbaum (2011) linked human capabilities to theories of justice and inequity. She also argued for the quality of life for all people and outlined the importance of creating opportunities that support diverse human capabilities. Nurses play a pivotal role in the enhancement of early child development in practice and research. Nurses attend to their social responsibilities and have the ability to address global challenges and priorities. However, understanding nurses’ roles in the context of early child development from a theoretical and empirical perspective are still limited.

Purpose: Using an integrative review guided by Nussbaum’s framework of capabilities, we examine the role of nurses, as seen by global leaders in relation to early child development. Nurses have the collective obligation to ensure children receive care in meaningful ways. The integrative literature review will address the following questions: (1) What are the considerations of global leaders regarding nurses’ roles in early child development? and (2) What are the contributions and barriers of global leaders in supporting and enhancing nurses’ roles in early child development?

Methods:

In this integrative literature review we will be searching the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PubMed. All primary research studies, written in English since 2007, a time when the World Health Organization started to focus on early child development, will be included in the review.

Results:

Work in progress

Conclusion:

While nurses play a significant role in the well-being of communities, their contributions have not been systematically supported and inquired into in the global context. We will put forward recommendations that help strengthen the ways global leaders can support early child development while placing nurses in the center of their efforts.