A School of Nursing and a Community Service Agency Close the Gap for Rural Families with Health Disparities During COVID-19: A Novel approach to Clinical Education and Service-Learning
Abstract
Introduction: Service-learning has long been touted as an effective way to educate nursing students. A collaboration between a community service action agency and a school of nursing resulted in four health fairs where preschool students and their families' healthcare needs were addressed.
Literature Review: Service-learning as a pedagogy for nursing students increases the richness of clinical experiences for the students and enriches the community. There is a positive impact on the students’ learning, awareness of cultural competence, understanding of the social determinants of health, their professional socialization and on the community that was served.
Methods: This descriptive study involving over 50 students, both undergraduate and graduate nursing students. A modified Community Service Attitudes Scale was given pre and post service-learning activity to the students.
Results: Students overwhelmingly reported an increase in their cultural awareness, their ability to work effectively with others and their feeling of making a real difference for those they served in the activity.
Conclusion: Utilization of a service-learning activity (SLA) via health fairs is an effective pedagogy to offer clinical hours and exposure to professional situations for nursing students. The impact of the SLA is multifactorial on the students and on the community served.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
- Authors submitting articles to the Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education are responsible for securing any permissions or licensing pertaining to the use of copyrighted materials and photographs/graphics. Authors of accepted articles assign the Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education the right to edit, publish, and distribute their text on the Internet, to archive it, and make it permanently retrievable.
- Authors do retain their copyright, so articles may be reprinted after publication as long as the Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education is acknowledged as the original site of publication. Articles that have already been published or are being considered for publication elsewhere are not eligible for publication in the Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education, unless a cross-publishing arrangement has been previously negotiated.
- Opinions or points of view expressed in the publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the University of Louisiana System or institutions or organizations affiliated with the Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education.
