83 What is social paediatrics and how do we teach it? A scoping review of social medicine curricula in the child and youth health context across health disciplines

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Abstract Background Social paediatrics is a field that focuses on addressing social and environmental factors that affect children’s health and wellbeing1. Over recent years in medical education, social paediatrics has become increasingly recognized as foundational to undergraduate and postgraduate paediatrics curricula. Paediatric residency programs worldwide have been developing and offering social paediatrics curricula, yet we lack understanding of effective strategies for teaching it to medical trainees. 1. Spencer N, Colomer C, Alperstein G, et al. Social paediatrics. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005;59(2):106-108. doi:10.1136/jech.2003.017681 Objectives We conducted a scoping review to describe the various educational interventions used to teach content and practice related to social paediatrics. Design/Methods We conducted a scoping review to describe the various educational interventions used to teach content and practice related to social paediatrics. Our literature search first drew upon Ovid MEDLINE and MedEd PORTAL, with subsequent studies identified through reference searching in relevant articles. We included studies that described and/or evaluated educational interventions aimed to teach elements of social paediatrics. We excluded studies published before 2000. We extracted data from the selected articles and conducted thematic analysis. Results Our search yielded 443 articles. Initial screen by title and/or abstract and subsequent screen by abstract and/or full text yielded 28 papers. Where it was unclear if studies met inclusion criteria, two additional researchers reviewed the full text. With the addition of articles found in references of the provisional articles, a total of 36 papers were included in the review. Of those, 17 (47%) described curricular interventions at the level of paediatric residency, 7 (19%) described medical school curricula, and 8 (22%) included non-medicine fields such as dentistry, nursing, research, and others. Fifty percent of curricula required self-directed learning, while a different 50% subset had a formal reflection process as part of learning consolidation. We organized the literature thematically into the following themes: interdisciplinary collaboration, community partnership, advocacy training, and experiential learning. Conclusion Our scoping review describes a variety of curricular interventions aimed to teach elements of social paediatrics, with a large focus on social determinants of health, primarily poverty, and a relative lack of focus on the underlying structural, systemic, and social justice issues underpinning these health determinants. We need to consider how the pedagogical strategies on offer can be purposed towards the development of more robust social paediatrics curricula at the postgraduate level.