Abstract:

Service-learning (SL) is an educational approach that integrates academic study with community service, enriching students' learning and strengthening their civic responsibility and commitment to society. Furthermore, SL in higher education creates a dynamic partnership between the university and the community that generates mutual benefits. In nursing education, SL has attracted increasing interest and has been implemented in many nursing faculties. In the Faculty of Nursing of Albacete, voluntary SL activities have been carried out in different subjects of the nursing degree supervised by teachers of the centre. The activities targeted primary and secondary school students and the public. In these service-learning activities, the nursing students worked and put into practice the contents taught in their subjects, such as anatomy and physiology of the human body, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, healthy lifestyle, or sexual health education. The aim of this study is to assess the experience in SL activities of nursing students. A quasi-experimental study was carried out consisting of performing various activities within the SL educational innovation project of the Faculty of Nursing of Albacete. To assess the experience of nursing students in SL activities, a questionnaire of 29 items collected in three categories, training, learning and service, was carried out. The responses were assessed using a Likert scale with five response options (1= strongly disagree to 5= strongly agree). The sample was 58 students from all the fourth courses of the Nursing degree. Of these, 38 answered the questionnaire (65.5% response rate), 33 women (86.8%) and 5 men (13.2%). Being 86.6% of them 1st year students. Mostly the values after the completion of the activity were positive, most of the items have ratings between 3 and 5. The best rated categories were training and service. The items with 5 score were those that referred to the usefulness that students consider for their personal training stand out with 76.3%, the commitment that students felt with the project with 73.7% and consider the activity as helping others with a 71.1%. Of the items with the lowest maximum score, we found the one that asks for recognition of participation in this project with 44.7%. The results show that students consider that SL activities are formative and enhance their commitment to citizenship. However, there is a need to work on the involvement of students in the organization, coordination, and development of SL activities.

Keywords:

Service-learning, Undergraduate Nursing Students, Learning improvement, Social Responsibility.