ABSTRACT
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.
AUTHORS
Received: August 4, 2008
Accepted: November 24, 2008
Posted: August 28, 2009
Dr. Kruger is Associate Professor and Community Coordinator, Dr. Roush is Assistant Professor, Dr. Olinzock is Associate Professor, and Dr. Bloom is Professor and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Nursing, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida.
The manuscript was presented in part at the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators Annual Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, June 2007, and the Sigma Theta Tau 18th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice, Vienna, Austria, July 2007. The authors thank the University of North Florida administration, faculty, and students of the School of Nursing and community partners for their commitment and support to making the Home-base model an integral component of nursing education at the University.
Address correspondence to Barbara J. Kruger, PhD, MPH, RN, Associate Professor and Community Coordinator, School of Nursing, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32224;e-mail: bkruger@unf.edu.
doi:10.3928/01484834-20090828-07
