Impact of Service-Learning educational interventions on nursing students: An integrative review

Abstract

Background: Service learning is an innovative educational approach that enables nursing students to directly participate and engage in the community while providing them and the community with benefits.

Objectives: To summarise the evidence from service learning activities for nursing students, the educational and non-educational benefits derived through implementing this methodology, and the participating students' perceptions.

Design: An integrative review including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods designs was conducted.

Data sources: The articles were identified through a systematic search in the following electronic databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library Plus, Scopus, CINAHL Complete (EBSCOHost), and Education Source (EBSCOHost).

Review methods: The search for studies was conducted in December 2020 using the following search terms: "Service learning", "Service-learning partnership", "Nursing", "Benefits" and "Intervention".

Results: A total of 22 articles were included. A positive relationship was found between the nursing students participating in service learning programmes and the acquisition of educational benefits, such as theoretical and practical learning, communication skills, and teamwork, and non-educational benefits, such as empathy, questioning prejudices, and commitment. In addition, a wide variety of activities and interventions were found to have been implemented using this academic approach, as well as a positive evaluation by the participating students.

Conclusions: Service learning programmes with the active participation of nursing students generate benefits for both them and the community. First, these interventions receive positive evaluations from participating students. Furthermore, the interventions developed using service learning are varied and require motivation and creativity to implement them. However, there is a need for more experimental studies and the use of larger samples in service learning programmes.

Keywords: And intervention; Benefits; Nursing; Service learning; Service-learning partnership.