Nursing Student-Led Health Education for Sixth Graders on Chicago’s South Side

Abstract

Introduction: Partnerships between schools of nursing and grade schools providing health education to youth are shown to be advantageous. Using Community Based Service Learning for nursing students at a middle school in Chicago, IL, we were able to improve health education for adolescents in an underserved area. Objective: This project aimed to improve and standardize existing health education efforts for sixth graders (n = 30) at a middle school by developing an evidence-based health education curriculum with nursing students. Methods: This was a descriptive study with a pretest and posttest evaluation addressing the physical, emotional, and sexual health knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of participating sixth graders. Results: Findings suggest service-learning partnerships may benefit middle schoolers and nursing students. Conclusion: Implementing a culturally relevant health curriculum using a service-learning framework increased sexual, physical, and emotional health knowledge in Latinx sixth graders and enhanced nursing student learning in a way not possible through classroom and clinical practicum experiences alone.