Service-Learning

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What is Service-Learning (S-L) and why is S-L applicable in nursing education? S-L is defined as an ‘‘educational experience in which students participate in an organised service activity that meets identified community needs and actively engages students in reflection to increase understanding of course content and enhance students’ sense of civic responsibility’’ (Brown and Roodin, 2001). S-L embedded in nursing courses will enable future healthcare providers to develop an appreciation of the vulnerabilities that marginalized segments of the population experience (Adegbola, 2013). According to Saylor et al. (2018) and Hwang, Wang, Tu, Chen & Chang (2014), S-L does affect nursing students’ extrinsic goal orientation. Extrinsic goal orientation …show more content…
(2018) and Kohlbry (2016) do agree S-L will enhance nursing student’s critical thinking especially in clinical setting. Critical thinking means making reasoned judgments that are logical and well-thought out. Hence, cultural competency and health-related quality of life are the operationalise version of critical thinking. S-L was commonly seen in United States as more than 314,000 students were travelled abroad in 2015 as part of their education and a 60% increase over the past decade (Lough & Toms, 2018). Braskamp, Braskamp, and Merrill (2009) stated that S-L helps students understand and appreciate cultural differences and allowing them to live more effectively in global society. However, statistics of S-L was not available in Singapore yet, there was no evidence to prove the impact of S-L towards nursing students. Hence, the purpose of this review is to evaluate the impact of S-L towards nursing students’ extrinsic goal orientation and their critical thinking. This review is relevant to nursing as nursing students will present with confidence, caring behaviour and have critical thinking while providing care to the patients after participated in …show more content…
(2018), a total of 23 nursing students were enrolled in S-L nursing course using a purposive sampling to analyse perceived confidence questionnaire and reflective analysis paper. A paired t-test analysis resulted in a significant difference between the pre- and post- perceived confidence survey (t= -9.91, P=0.001). The findings revealed that there is an increase in perceived confidence levels after completing the S-L course. Saylor et al. (2018) stated that S-L course allows the students to translate the learned information into a real-world experience other than in classroom environment. Hence, they learned to put their nursing skills into action and able to learn quickly by recognizing their scope of abilities which in turn increases their confidences (Saylor et al.,