Students' perceptions of a community health advocacy skills building activity: A descriptive analysis

Abstract

BackgroundSkills to promote advocacy, a nursing competency, are vital to today's cohorts of nursing students, who often struggle with discourse. Opportunities to develop, defend, and rebut science-based arguments enhance resilience and self-efficacy when advocating for health policy. A community health discussion activity was developed to enhance advocacy skills in undergraduate and graduate nursing students at a midwestern university. ObjectivesThe purposes of this study were to explore students' perceptions of the benefits of a discussion activity about a controversial health issue, and to describe the impact of the opportunities to form valid arguments using empirical evidence on students' perceptions of their ability to be advocates. DesignCross-sectional post-activity survey evaluation. SettingsEnrollment in a community health nursing course. ParticipantsStudents from two undergraduate (n = 110) and one graduate (n = 20) nursing cohorts. MethodsFollowing completion of the online discussion activity, students were invited to provide feedback on their perceptions of activity benefits. Descriptive analyses were conducted. ResultsUndergraduate and graduate nursing students reported the activity helped them learn to form a valid argument using scientific evidence (88.6 %), use credible sources when forming their own opinions (91.7 %), and begin to see themselves as advocates for improving the health of individuals and communities (87.1 %). ConclusionsOnline discussion boards are potential venues for development of advocacy skills.