Advancing innovation, civic engagement and dissemination of student-created health promotion resources in pre-registration nurse education

To evaluate the perspectives of students and educators on the learning and teaching approaches that facilitated the development of health promotion resources, and to establish the steps taken towards generating impact for enhancing population health
Pedagogic theory supports the engagement of students in active learning in Higher Education (Stefanou et al., 2013; Kolb, 2014). In response to global, workforce and technological demands, there is an increasing trend to underpin nurse education with innovative pedagogies to foster learning experiences that are both stimulating and student-centred (Murphy et al., 2011). It is also important that the curriculum is sufficiently flexible to embrace creativity (Boore and Deeny, 2012). Clarke (2012) suggests that innovation within nurse education is not just about inventing new objects, but is also about the development of new processes and approaches to existing ways of working. Engagement with students in new and exciting educational opportunities has the potential to enhance motivation and ultimately to impact positively on health care quality.
Underpinned by pedagogic theory and the embracement of creativity in pre-registration nursing curricula, students (n = 236) self-allocated to a total of 20 teams. Facilitating innovation, civic engagement and dissemination occurred in three phases:
1. Student-led workshops supported the development of health promotion resources with student teams engaging with relevant local/regional groups and organisations to identify public health priorities, to seek advice about required and appropriate resources, and to obtain feedback during the process resource development.
2. Student teams exhibited and presented their resources at the Annual Student Exhibition. The quality of the resources and presentations were appraised by an independent expert adjudication panel.
3. Student teams prepared a paper for publication detailing the rationale and process of resource development. Papers were developed using communication technologies. Writing for publication offered students a valuable opportunity whereby their knowledge, skills and creativity relating to health promotion may be communicated to a wider global community of nurses/healthcare professionals. Importantly, this phase consolidated the identity of pre-registration nursing students as making a real and tangible difference to health promotion in Northern Ireland and beyond.

A descriptive evaluation approach was utilised with data collection comprising of 1) student module evaluations, 2) adjudication panel appraisal and feedback, 3) regional interest in uptake of the health promotion resources and ‘spin off’ initiatives, and 4) quality of the student team papers for publications.