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

At the University of North Florida School of Nursing, students, faculty, and community partners engage in a long-term relationship with a home-base to address community issues and student learning objectives. Community home-bases can be geographic or programmatic, but they serve as the central place where all of the partners come together and participate in mutually beneficial service-learning activities. The Home-base model addresses the unique integration of this partnership in the undergraduate curriculum, distinguished by the continuity of the student's clinical practice in one place throughout their nursing program. Findings from formative evaluation indicated that students "see the big picture," "shed underlying prejudices," "value upstream approaches," and "make a difference." This article describes the development and structure of the Home-base model, identifies preliminary outcomes, and discusses implications for nursing education.