Newswise — Social justice is the view that everyone is worthy of economic, personal and social safety, freedom, and opportunity. This global concept goes by many names: utu—community peace and justice—in many African cultures and tikkun olam—healing the world—in the Jewish tradition. For Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing’s faculty Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN; Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN; Phyllis Sharps, PhD, RN, FAAN; and Daniel Sheridan, PhD, RN, FAAN, it is said in a single word: nursing. Their collective work has been bringing hope, safety, and health to some of the more than eight million in the U.S. and untold millions worldwide who have been victimized by physical, sexual, or emotional violence.
Campbell: Nursing a Passion for Social Action—For decades, the silence surrounding rape and other intimate violence was deafening. The situation has been changing, thanks in part to the leadership of professor Jacquelyn Campbell. She observes, “As nurses, we need to do more than identify and treat victims of intimate violence. We need to help them build a sense of empowerment, security, and freedom that comes from stable, safe housing, a job, and a sense of self-worth as well as increased safety.” It is an agenda she has pursued with unflagging passion for over 25 years. Her ever-growing research in the field enlightens those working with victims of violence across the country and around the world. Her partnerships to advance safety and freedom for victims of violence have engaged not only healthcare leaders here and abroad, but also policymakers, international organizations, and governments. Critically, she has brought innumerable nurses along with her in the quest to meet the challenge of interpersonal violence. After a quarter of a century, what keeps Campbell going? First, Campbell delights in how far the U.S. has come in policy, program, and law to end violence against women and, in her own words, “how gratifying it is to see women harness their power, independence, and freedom to create a violence-free life for their children and themselves.” She also revels in seeing other nurses and students take on the issue of intimate violence and commit to social justice through nursing. Frequent collaborator Nancy Glass observes, “Jackie loves what she does and wants everyone to get involved, too. With as much violence as there is in the world, everyone needs to get involved. That’s what motivates her; that’s what motivates us all.”
Glass: Social Justice, Violence Against Women, and Pigs—Associate professor Nancy Glass’s sense of social justice was honed as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa even before she became a nurse. She carries her beliefs into her nursing, where she focuses in research and clinical practice with victims of intimate violence. Recognizing that they need access not only to healthcare, but also to services that can promote safety and both economic and physical freedom, Glass has campaigned successfully for U.S. laws and policies that open doors to affordable housing, jobs with living wages, and other supportive services for victims. But her work hasn’t ended at our shores; she has taken her vision of social justice for victims of intimate violence back to her Peace Corps posting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a nation torn by over 15 years of war. There she has found that social justice can come in the form of a pig.
Her work first mobilized a clinic-on-wheels, staffed by local healthcare volunteers, to bring healthcare to the many victims of war-related rape unable to get to a hospital for treatment. Glass soon found that medical care is only part of the solution. “Rape devalues women; many are exiled from family and community,” Glass points out. “They need to recover their dignity and ability to be productive to return to their partners and communities. And pigs have become a vehicle to achieve that goal.”
Pigs for Peace, a microlending program, loans a $40 sow (female pig) to a rape victim and teaches her how to care for and breed the pig. With up to 24 piglets born each year, each selling for $40, each woman soon is earning considerable money and becomes once again a productive member of the family and community. The money has helped rebuild homes, buy food and medication, and send children to school. The cost of the loan? Two of the first piglets born. The money raised to date translates to over 35 pigs and as many women’s lives reclaimed. Glass observes, “What I like is the simplicity of the program. You put a little money into the community and let it multiply and good things happen.” She believes the program has application beyond DRC. “Programs like this are a natural extension of what nurses do,” she says. “We don’t just look at the individual, but at the context in which they live, and we work to help promote recovery within an often challenging environment.” http://glrbtp.org/projects_p4p.html.
Sharps/Sheridan: Nursing the Young, the Old, and Policy Change—Social justice is about leveling the playing field, providing a door to financial, social, and personal freedom and safety for those without. And that’s what the focus of professor Phyllis Sharps’ and associate professor Daniel Sheridan’s work with victims of violence is all about. Sharps notes “Social justice requires a recognition of the interconnectedness of the person with the environment in health and illness. With a holistic approach to health, we nurses are well suited to engage in social justice efforts. It is a natural part of what we do every day.” That dedication to social justice led Sharps to create the Domestic Violence Enhanced Visitation (DOVE) program to help keep abused pregnant women and their children safe from intimate partner violence. This home visitation program provides an ongoing intervention that enables the women to pursue options for their safety and to rediscover their power, freedom, and strengths to consider and act on options for their safety and/or relationships. Sharps adds that she sees the potential to put these methods into practice nationwide.
Social justice is also at the heart of associate professor Sheridan’s forensic nursing work to prevent, educate about, and respond to violence and abuse. He notes that, “To be effective, we need to focus broadly at the individual, organization, and national levels in policy and practice.” He values the creation of systems and programs to reach out to victims of abuse and violence in shelters and through counseling and advocacy centers, and has helped do so throughout the country. He not only assesses and documents abuse and intimate violence in individual patients, but also educates healthcare and justice professionals to identify, screen, assess, and document abuse and intimate violence, ultimately creating systems sensitive to and able to help halt abuse. And he has been a strong advocate for the Hands and Words are Not for Hurting Project, which has been adopted nationally by children and families, communities, and political leaders. His work matches his belief that violence and abuse must be addressed at every level of society. Sheridan sums up the work, “As nurses, we plant seeds of health and hope and nurture them both in policy and program, and with women and families. I can think of no better role than to guide victims of intimate violence and abuse to freedom through policy, program, care, and sometimes even a loaned pig.”
The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing is a global leader in nursing research, education, and scholarship. The School and its baccalaureate, master’s, PhD, and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs are recognized for excellence in educating nurses who set the highest standards for patient care and become innovative national and international leaders. Hopkins is the only nursing school in the country with a baccalaureate Peace Corps Fellows Program and is ranked at the top of the enrollment rankings for colleges and universities that are Peace Corps Fellows/USA partners. Among U.S. nursing schools, the Hopkins community public health nursing master’s program is ranked second by U.S. News & World Report; the nursing graduate programs overall are ranked fourth. Each year, the School’s nursing research program and faculty achieve placement among the top 10 in nursing schools for securing federal research grants and for scholarly productivity. For more information, visit http://www.nursing.jhu.edu.
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