Nursing and Service-Learning Partnerships: Implementation of a Community Breast Cancer Awareness Outreach

Abstract

Women’s Health Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program Service learning is a method to connect nursing students to their community by assessment of an identified health need. The nursing students engaged community participants with health education material and formed mutually beneficial partnerships. This collaboration instills a sense of civic engagement because nursing students serve as advocates for health promotion within their communities. Proposed Change A community needs assessment was used to identify a high rate of breast cancer in the state and parish. The purpose of the service-learning project was to provide education to women of all ages on breast cancer awareness (BCA). A community-wide approach to reach all age groups was implemented. This community outreach proposal was enabled by a grant funded from the Northeast Louisiana Affiliate (NELA) of the Susan G. Komen foundation. The purpose of this grant was to provide funding of educational materials from the Komen foundation to enable nursing students to engage the community in a variety of settings that utilized service learning. Implementation, Outcomes, and Evaluation BCA educational materials that targeted women of all ages, race, and ethnicities were used. Nursing students engaged women in a variety of settings: the parish medical center allowed nursing students to participate in a BCA event, area churches sponsored health and wellness fairs in which BCA booths were present, and community-based awareness outreaches were planned to target adult women. For students enrolled in the Maternal Newborn Nursing course the service-learning project was a clinical component that targeted nursing peers in the annual university campus health symposium, which emphasized the "know your normal" focus on self-awareness for young women. New mothers on the postpartum unit received BCA materials as part of nursing students' clinical experiences. The largest outreach by students was the "Bulldogs Tackling Breast Cancer" football game. Nursing students hosted educational booths at each stadium entrance, and engaged the community with educational displays, BSE models, and distribution of the Komen educational materials. These activities attained success as service-learning endeavors, and met the overall objective: to improve the health of citizens of the community in which these nursing students live and will serve as registered nurses. Service-learning evaluations completed by students and agency partners positively validate this partnership success. Implications for Nursing Practice Nursing students gain awareness of breast cancer, commit to make a positive health impact on the community, commit to a plan of action to implement health education for women, and engage the community through implementation of their service.