Service Learning Trips Research Articles

The Power of Wondering What Could Be School

Early in the 2023–2024 school year, Mr. Medeiros and a handful of his Kaua’i High School Future Teachers of Hawai’i club members took a two-day huaka’i (trip) to Oahu. This service-learning trip was part of the learning progression for the club, which is focused on student advocacy and social justice. With the help of Josh Reppun, retired Hawai’i State Supreme Court Justice Mike Wilson, the people at What School Could Be, and other amazing educators, the students began their huaka’i by gathering together to think and talk about the purpose of education/school. Ostensibly, they were traveling to Oahu to learn from others, but, really, the adults were there to learn how to keep pushing the boundaries of the idea of “school.”

Evaluation of Social Determinants of Health in Nursing Education through Service Learning.

Background: This manuscript describes an in-state nursing student global health-care experience. The 2021 Rio Grande Valley service learning team at Louise Herrington School of Nursing at Baylor University traveled from Dallas to McAllen, Texas to volunteer in a COVID vaccination clinic and refugee respite center on the U.S.-Mexican border. Method: A competency-based evaluation utilized the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education Featured Concepts, with a focus on social determinants of health, as a framework. Results: The evaluation of the service learning trip through the lens of social determinants of health and the Core Competencies can serve as a guideline for the design of future trips. Conclusion: The Rio Grande Valley service learning trip contributed to nursing students' self-reports of competency in global health education, in identifying the social determinants of health that characterized the immigrants and refugees, and in service and advocacy.

Designing a Short-Term Healthcare Service-Learning Mission Trip for Impact and Sustainability.

Educators creating healthcare service-learning mission trips for students recognize that success is measured in benefit to students, the community served, and in sustainability. Partnering in Guatemala with a nonprofit ministry, Belmont University faculty describe their experience with service-learning trips and how impact was measured, particularly on students' faith and service. Useful steps for overcoming barriers to sustainability for the university and local community served are provided.

The Use of Tweet-Format Narrative Reflections During a Service-Learning Trip to Appalachia

Background: Tweet-format narratives have been used in medical education to capture student experiences. However, there is a lack of research on tweet-format narratives during experiential learning in nursing education.
 Purpose: The purpose of this project was to explore the usefulness of tweet-format narratives to capture nursing student experiences and to elicit reflection during a service-learning trip.
 Methods: Eight bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) students participated in a service-learning experience to Appalachia. A grounded theory approach with three data collection methods was used to determine the usefulness of tweet-format narratives to facilitate student reflection during the event. A free closed text-messaging app was used to house tweet-format narratives. A focus group session and post-survey were conducted at the conclusion of the trip. Emergent themes from each data collection method were compared and modified using iterative techniques and constant comparison analysis until the data were saturated.
 Results: Focus group responses were reflective in nature and included student elaboration about content themes that were previously identified by the tweet-based narratives. Modification of themes resulted in six final themes of improved skills, cultural competence, patient interaction, socioeconomic factors and health, landscape/clinic setting, and impactful shared experiences.
 Conclusions: It is important for nursing students to reflect on their experiences during service-learning immersion trips, especially as they relate to underserved rural populations and their unique healthcare scenarios. With the growth of social media, more nursing students are accustomed to communicating in a short, text-based format. The tweet-format narratives in the free closed text-messaging app allowed students to reflect on their experiences through open-ended comments and to communicate with other members of the group. Short text-based narratives can be an effective narrative medicine technique for nursing students participating in service-learning trips in rural areas.
 Key words: narrative medicine, rural health, service-learning, technology
 DOI: http://doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v20i2.633

Student-reported value of a short-term service-learning trip to Nicaragua

BackgroundThe purpose of this qualitative study was to assess the student-reported professional and personal value of a one-week service-learning trip to a Nicaraguan community. MethodsFive pharmacy students who participated in a one-week service-learning trip to Jinotepe, Nicaragua were invited to participate in this study. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted following the trip. ResultsA variety of themes and subthemes surfaced, demonstrating the student-reported professional and personal value of the short-term service-learning experience. While each pharmacy student was impacted differently, common themes demonstrated transformative pharmacy student learning. These themes included recognition that every individual has a unique story that is essential to understanding how to care properly for that individual; the benefit of establishing a relationship with a community to more effectively and compassionately serve them; the importance of determining community-specific needs to ensure that service provided is beneficial; and recognition that those who are served have wisdom to offer healthcare providers. ConclusionsShort-term service-learning opportunities can provide impactful learning for pharmacy students. Established service-learning visits with a consistent host site allow for deeper and more trusting relationships, resulting in the ability to respond to the needs and requests of the partner organization in developing communities and not impose agendas. Organizers of service-learning trips must cater to the needs of the developing community to ensure that the trip is effective in providing value to the host site rather than creating unnecessary burdens and unanticipated hardship.

Who Is Served Best by Health Professions Service Learning Trips?

Service learning trips can be a powerful means of fostering cultural competency as well as an opportunity for students to expand their clinical skill set. However, if not planned and executed thoughtfully, they might not provide lasting benefit to the communities they seek to serve. Through analysis of a case in which participants question the value of their short-term international service learning trip, we argue that such trips should be designed with the community's needs in mind, preferably as identified by the community. Ideally, both the service group and the community should seek opportunities for teaching and exchange in order to expand the community's ability to provide care to the local population long after the service learning group has left.

Impact of a Short-Term Domestic Service-Learning Program on Medical Student Education.

Purpose:The number of global health opportunities offered to medical students has increased over the past 20 years. Recognizing the growing prevalence of these experiences, a number of studies have shown that these types of exposures have a significant impact on medical students’ education. However, there is a paucity of literature on the educational impacts of short-term domestic service-learning trips, which can be more accessible due to fewer logistical and financial barriers. This mixed-methods qualitative/quantitative study aims to understand the impact of a domestic one-week service learning program on medical students’ educational development and career choices.Methods:The authors conducted a qualitative analysis of journal entries written by a cohort of students during a domestic weeklong service trip. They also administered a survey to all students who had participated in the program between 2009–2016.Results:In 88.6% (n = 31) of the journal entries, students reported learning about border town life, Native American health, and rural medical practice. In 42.8% (n = 15) of entries, participants described experiences they felt would impact their future medical career decisions. The students’ reflections also revealed implicit benefits such as becoming aware of privilege within society (n = 14, 40.0%). The majority of survey respondents reported that the trip improved their medical education and influenced the field and location of their future/current practice.Conclusion:This study suggests that domestic short-term service-learning trips impact medical students’ immediate educational development and may influence their future career plans. Further investigation into the local community’s perceptions of this service-learning trip will provide greater understanding of the impact on all involved.

An Exploration of Shared Decision Making Among Rehabilitation Students on a Service Learning Trip: A Phenomenological Investigation

Abstract Date Presented 4/19/2018 The purpose of this study was to identify descriptors of shared decision making in the context of international service learning and to identify shared decision making among participants. Students used a patient-centric model and explored roles as professionals in the context of this community. Primary Author and Speaker: Mary Zadnik Additional Authors and Speakers: Suzanne Trotter, Thomas Werner

Redesign of a Service-learning Social Entrepreneurship Program for High School Students Part I

Started as a program in 2003 and then incorporated as a nonprofit in 2008, each year, LearnServe has taken students of diverse backgrounds from the Washington, DC area to experience a summer of international service-learning and social entrepreneurship. However, the students who travel abroad are not always prepared to go or able to successfully complete the post-trip activities. With experiences of extreme homesickness and severe culture shock, a lack of true social empowerment projects during the trip, and a lack of engagement in social entrepreneurship after the trip, the program directors realized there was a need to improve the LearnServe curriculum. The aim was to create an improved educational experience that prepares students to travel, engages them during the trip, and creates sharing and entrepreneurial opportunities afterwards. This paper presents the design research and prototyping work completed to redesign this service-learning program so that it meets its goals for success, more effectively preparing students to have a successful service-learning trip abroad and engaging social entrepreneurship work upon return.

Service Learning Trips Abroad Benefit Both Communities and Seasoned Health Educators.

Service learning experiences abroad provide an excellent opportunity for seasoned health educators to share their skills with underresourced communities in other parts of the world while enriching their own professional development. Health educators have not traditionally participated in short-term medical service trips, which have become a popular humanitarian effort, yet their contributions can expand the scope of these efforts. With our responsibilities often focused on assessing needs, planning, implementing, and evaluation, seasoned health educators can provide guidance for new initiatives and share health promotion materials and other resources with communities in other parts of the world. In this commentary, I detail my experience as the first health educator to volunteer with a medical brigade that has served a rural community in Honduras for nearly two decades, and describe my added contribution of a brief intervention to address teen pregnancy during the brigade's annual, medically oriented visit. I also reflect on the benefits to my professional growth from this opportunity to immerse myself in four very familiar areas of responsibility for health education in a new and unknown setting.

Reflections on Global Service Learning in India.

Global service learning is an action-oriented, pedagogical approach that engages students in the core values of academic excellence, social relevance, personal transformation, intentional diversity, and cultural competence. The experience of students and nurse educators who have participated in global service-learning trips to India is relayed, along with the healthcare system of several Indian states.

International Service-Learning Trips: A Framework for Developing Cross-Cultural Competence

International Service-Learning Trips: A Framework for Developing Cross-Cultural Competence

High-Impact Practices in Social Work Education: A Short-Term Study-Abroad Service-Learning Trip to Guatemala

ABSTRACTTwenty-first-century universities must contend with demands from two constituencies: students wishing to compete in a progressively globalized employment marketplace and employers seeking savvy, prepared, and competent graduates who can “hit the ground running.” One response that holds great promise and has been supported by research is the implementation of high-impact educational practices (HIPs). This article begins with a description of HIPs as elucidated by Kuh (2008) and describes an initiative at one university to integrate them into the curriculum. The article finishes with a case study of one particular high-impact social work class, a short-term study abroad/service-learning course in Guatemala, and presents both quantitative and qualitative data that suggests that the implementation of high-impact practices positively influences the kind of transformative learning social work programs strive to deliver.

Exploring the Impact of Service Learning in Haiti on the Cultural Competence of OTD Students

As society trends towards increased cultural diversity, the need for cultural competence in the field of occupational therapy (OT) becomes more acute. Immersion in another culture within the curriculum offers the student an opportunity to put their knowledge into practice and recognize the need to competently interact with members of another culture. This study explored the impact of a service learning trip to Haiti, providing seating and mobility services, on all four factors of cultural intelligence (CQ; i.e., metacognitive CQ, cognitive CQ, motivational CQ, behavioral CQ) for occupational therapy doctoral (OTD) students. Using the cultural intelligence scale (CQS), a one-group pretest-posttest design with a paired-samples t-test (α < 0.05) rejected the null hypotheses to support service learning as a pedagogy which enhanced the four factors of CQ for the sample. With increased emphasis on producing culturally sensitive OTD professionals, service learning projects in a cross-cultural setting as a pedagogy extend beyond skill development (e.g., wheelchair fittings) to building coping strategies for interacting with clients (metacognitive CQ), enhancing knowledge of culture (cognitive CQ), persisting to overcome any cultural barriers (motivational CQ), and building the behavioral repertoire (behavioral CQ) of occupational therapists. Contrasting the results from this study with research into the efficacy of short-term study tours, service learning positively impacts behavioral CQ, whereas short-term study tours do not have the same impact. This article details the service learning project and provides recommendations for future research.

Combining Online Education with International Service Learning to Increase Cultural Competence

PURPOSE: Although international service learning has the capacity to promote a variety of important professional behaviors, merely visiting another country does not automatically result in these benefits. METHODS: This article describes an evidenced-based course which used pre-trip preparation in combination with a nine day service learning trip to Ecuador to develop cultural competence among 6 occupational and 6 physical therapy students. Pre-trip preparation included online and in-person components to increase self-awareness, awareness of other cultures, knowledge about Ecuadorian culture and skill-building. On-site activities included exploration of the physical and social context in addition to providing occupational and physical therapy treatment in a variety of settings. The authors collected qualitative information by reviewing responses to prompts on an online forum. A pre-test/post-test format using the Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence Among Healthcare Professionals-Student Version (IAPCC-SV) was used to gather quantitative information. RESULTS: A paired-samples t-test was used to compare the group’s pre-test and post-test scores on the IAPCC-SV. There was a statistically significant difference in the scores between the pre-test (M=57.72, SD+ 6.66) and post-test (M=67.54, SD+ 3.55) with the change in mean score of 9.81 resulting in t= -491, df = 10 and p ≤.001. DISCUSSION: The results showed a change in students from the level of culturally aware to culturally competent based on the scale provided in IAPCC-SV. The experience resulted in an increased desire to continue intercultural practice. Health care professionals have a responsibility to be culturally competent. This article will assist health care professionals to reflect on the advantages of joining an international service learning trip to expand their self-awareness and awareness of other cultures. Professors may reflect on how pre-trip preparation may enhance existing service learning experiences.

Enhancing intercultural engagement through service learning and music making with Indigenous communities in Australia

This article explores the potential for music making activities such as jamming, song writing, and performance to act as a medium for intercultural connection and relationship building during service learning programs with Indigenous communities in Australia. To set the context, the paper begins with an overview of current international perspectives on service learning and then moves towards a theoretical and practical discussion of how these processes, politics, and learning outcomes arise when intercultural engagement is used in service learning programs. The paper then extends this discussion to consider the ways in which shared music making can bring a sense of intercultural “proximity” that has the potential to evoke deep learning experiences for all involved in the service learning activity. These learning experiences arise from three different “facings” in the process of making music together: facing others together; facing each other; facing ourselves. In order to flesh out how these theoretical ideas work in practice, the article draws on insights and data from Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University’s award winning Winanjjikari Service Learning Program, which has been running in partnership with Barkly Regional Arts and Winanjjikari Music Centre in Tennant Creek since 2009. This program involves annual service learning trips where university music students travel to Central Australia to work alongside Aboriginal and non-Indigenous musicians and artists on a range of community-led projects. By looking at the ways in which shared music making brings participants in this program “face to face”, we explore how this proximity leads to powerful learning experiences that foster mutual appreciation, relationship building, and intercultural reconciliation.

Mobile clinics in Haiti, part 2: Lessons learned through service

Learning from experience is a positive approach when preparing for mobile clinic service in a developing country. Mobile clinics provide healthcare services to people in hard to reach areas around the world, but preparation for their use needs to be done in collaboration with local leaders and healthcare providers. For over 16 years, Azusa Pacific University School of Nursing has sponsored mobile clinics to rural northern Haiti with the aim to provide culturally sensitive healthcare in collaboration with Haitian leaders. Past Haiti mobile clinic experiences have informed the APU-SON approach on best practices in study abroad, service-learning, and mission trips providing healthcare services. Hopefully, lessons learned from these experiences with mobile clinic service-learning opportunities in Haiti will benefit others who seek to plan study abroad service-learning trips for students in healthcare majors who desire to serve the underserved around the world.

The impact of international service-learning trips on medical student concerns

The impact of international service-learning trips on medical student concerns

Service-Learning in Belize: Perceptions of Occupational and Physical Therapy Students and Alumni

Abstract Date Presented 4/8/2016 Focus groups were led with a convenience sample of 23 occupational therapy/physical therapy student and alumni participants of service learning trips to Belize. Emergent themes were professional development, cultural influence, knowledge translation, inter- and intraprofessional collaboration, best practice, and sustainability. Primary Author and Speaker: Candace Beitman Additional Authors and Speakers: Elizabeth McAfee, Amber Hensley, Leah Giesler, Mariah Linville, Megan Mosier, Emily Gardner

Getting Out of their Comfort Zone: Examining Teacher Candidates' Reactions to Service-Learning Abroad

This study presents data gathered from a service-learning trip to Costa Rica designed for teacher candidates. Data include participant responses to writing prompts, field notes, and follow-up questionnaires. Results show that participants' experience with the language barrier raised their empathy toward English learners. However, participants expressed dissonance regarding student behavioral norms.