Service learning within community-engaged research: Facilitating nursing student learning outcomes

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Community Health Research
• Service-Learning

Background:

• Integrating service-learning into nursing curricula offers valuable real-world experience.
• Community-based research provides unique opportunities for student engagement.
• Bridging academic institutions and community research requires structured collaboration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a method for integrating baccalaureate nursing students' service-learning into a community-based randomized controlled trial.
• To enhance student learning and expose them to the role of a nursing scientist.
• To provide a replicable model for inter-institutional collaboration in nursing research.

Main Methods:

• A collaboration was established between a university research team and a nursing program faculty.
• Students received research training before participating in the service-learning experience.
• Thirty-five students assisted with intervention delivery and completed learning assignments.

Main Results:

• The integration facilitated student learning about research processes.
• Students gained exposure to the nursing scientist role within a community setting.
• The described collaboration model proved effective for student involvement.

Conclusions:

• The described method effectively integrates nursing students into community-based research.
• This approach enhances nursing education by providing practical research experience.
• The model is adaptable for various nursing research projects and collaborations.