Engaging nursing students in a long-term relationship with a home-base community

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Community Health
• Service-Learning

Background:

• Traditional nursing education often lacks continuity in clinical practice.
• Community engagement is vital for addressing real-world health issues.
• Integrating service-learning effectively into curricula presents challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development and structure of the Home-base model at the University of North Florida School of Nursing.
• To identify preliminary outcomes of the Home-base model for student learning and community impact.
• To discuss the implications of the Home-base model for nursing education.

Main Methods:

• The Home-base model involves long-term partnerships between students, faculty, and community partners.
• Community home-bases can be geographic or programmatic, serving as central hubs for collaboration.
• The model integrates service-learning activities into the undergraduate nursing curriculum with continuous clinical practice.

Main Results:

• Students demonstrated an enhanced ability to 'see the big picture' and 'value upstream approaches'.
• Participants reported shedding 'underlying prejudices' and feeling empowered to 'make a difference'.
• The continuous clinical practice in one location fostered deeper community understanding and relationships.

Conclusions:

• The Home-base model effectively integrates community partnerships and service-learning into nursing education.
• This model promotes significant positive attitudinal and learning outcomes for nursing students.
• The Home-base approach offers valuable implications for the future of nursing education and community engagement.