Peer Review

Population Health for Nurses

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Nov 19, 2025 by Health Sciences

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

The text emphasizes the social determinants of health and how nurses can plan and implement health promotion and disease prevention interventions. It takes a holistic perspective, connecting human health behavior to the dynamic, ongoing interactions of the person, social factors, and the physical environment in which people are born, live, learn, play, work, and age. OpenStax Population Health for Nurses uses a logical, thematic organization that breaks down content into manageable chunks. It presents the material in 35 chapters, organized into 7 thematic units. The text defines and distinguishes among the interrelated nursing areas of population health, public health, and community health nursing, providing both historical context and up-to-date research to help students make connections across content that can inform practice. The result is a holistic approach that applies theoretical concepts to the practical assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation steps of client care and community-tailored interventions.

Type of Material:

Open (Access) Textbook

Recommended Uses:

This text can supplement the class text or be used as a lecture basis.
Could be used as a textbook for overall learning with homework readings and activities.

Technical Requirements:

Internet access and web browser to use the ebook online or it can be downloaded to view online.
Works well to view with iphone.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

After engaging with this text, the learner will be able to:

Define population health and public health.
Describe community health nurses' core competencies.
Analyze social determinants affecting health outcomes.
Evaluate health disparities.
Assess disease prevention strategies.
Design health promotion and disease prevention interventions.
Explain the importance of transcultural nursing.
Discuss how nurses advocate for population health.

Target Student Population:

College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

A BSN or being in a BSN program helps to understand this text.
Will provide basic and advanced information about population health with examples for students with basic computer navigation skills.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The content is accurate, valid, and reliable.
The material presents learning chapters with reflective questions at the end of each chapter, which depict reality.
The chapters teach important and relevant factors for nurses interested in population health and health policy.
The chapters are up to date.
The content is general and is needed for every nurse involved in population health.
Overall, the quality is high, and the summary of information is good.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

These chapters use an introduction, a conclusion, and a test chapter to facilitate learning.
The material is presented with clarity, focus, and organization.
This material is concise enough not to be overwhelming for learners.
The subject matter is a good supplement for nurses.
Concepts are clearly presented.
This material demonstrates relationships between concepts and is an effective teaching/learning tool.
Engaging comprehensive information with color pictures, key terms, chapter summaries, and review questions.
Learning outcomes are listed within each chapter.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

Learners can apply the material within their work.
The information is presented in clear, organized chapters, which are familiar to educators.
The material is easy to navigate.
The presentation of each concept is clear without distractions.
Videos include closed captioning.
Hierarchical headings are set for screen readers.
Text is selectable.
Images and figures include alt text.

Other Issues and Comments:: Outstanding population health nursing OER textbook!
Creative Commons: