Service-learning and nursing professional values development: an experimental research study.

SERVICE-LEARNING (SL) IS A FORM OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING THAT CONNECTS MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY SERVICE WITH ACADEMIC INSTRUCTION WHILE EMPHASIZING REFLECTIVE THINKING AND ANALYSIS. Students and recipients of service create a reciprocal relationship that enhances learning and strengthens communities (National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, 2012). According to the nursing literature, one student benefit of SL is enhancement of personal and professional values development (Mueller & Norton, 2005), a central purpose of nursing education. This article reports the findings of a randomized, controlled experimental study of the efficacy of SL as a method to enhance professional nursing values development. The study was designed to determine whether nursing students in a baccalaureate program who completed an SL assignment scored higher on the Nursing Professional Values Scale-Revised (NPVS-R) (Weis & Schank, 2009) compared to an attention control (AC) group of students who completed a traditional learning assignment. It was hypothesized that students who completed the SL assignment would score higher. Background Although a great deal has been written about benefits and methodologies of SL, there is a dearth of empirical evidence in the nursing literature (Stallwood & Groh, 2011). Only Bentley and Ellison (2005) published SL research that used an experimental design. Qualitative data revealed that SL participants reported an increased awareness of community needs and believed they had a responsibility to serve the community. Quantitative analysis of course grades and scores on a commercially available standardized exam found no statistically significant difference between study and control group students. There has been no published study that applied experimental methods to evaluate the efficacy of SL to teach professional nursing values development. Method This study used an experimental, two-group, posttest-only design. The setting was a school of nursing within a health science center. The research was conducted during a required three-credit didactic course in the third semester of a four-semester BSN curriculum. Institutional review board approval was received from the study institution and the author's doctoral program. Before the course began, students were randomly assigned to the SL intervention group and the AC group. Students in each group were further randomly divided into small groups of five to seven students to facilitate online asynchronous discussion. Random assignment was accomplished using a function in Blackboard that randomly enrolls students in groups. The intervention group provided three hours of service at a non-profit organization that secures, packages, and distributes unused medical equipment and supplies to health care providers in less fortunate countries. Via online asynchronous discussion, students reflected on their SL experience and the core nursing values of altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, and social justice (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008); they also wrote a reflective essay exploring the impact of the SL experience on their professional values. Attention control methods provide an activity that is concurrent with, and equivalent to, the experimental intervention (Lindquist, Wyman, Talley, Findorff, & Gross, 2007). Students in the AC group attended a professional nursing meeting and observed leadership behaviors; later, they participated in an online asynchronous discussion and wrote a paper describing their experience. During course orientation, students were given instructions on completing their respective assignments. They were given information about the study and told that completion of the NPVS-R was voluntary and would not affect their grade. Students completed the online survey at the end of the semester; Survey Monkey was used to ensure anonymity. The NPVS-R, used to measure professional values postintervention, is a norm-referenced instrument derived from the 2001 American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses. …