Within the community setting, the nurse can be an agent for social change or control. As the ‘expert,’ the nurse has power over clients he/she sees in the community since they may be recognized as nonexperts. These socially unequal associations may breed conflict or worse, oppression, within the ‘inferior’ party.

Walker (2002) says that individuals relate to others in contexts which have been “raced, engendered, sexualized, and situated along dimensions of class, physical ability, religion, or whatever construction carry ontological significance in the culture (p. 2) [1]. The power differentials between nurses and those we service in the community should be recognized immediately as barriers to building healthy communities. Taking the time to learn about the issues affecting the marginalized groups in our community is critical to reducing these potential barriers.