The TecnoCampus Degree in Nursing has successfully carried out the implementation of a Service Learning (SAP) project through an optional subject in the third year. This project, carried out for the first time at the aforementioned university, has been developed in collaboration with the Guaita collective of the Salesians Sant Jordi Social Platform and with the support of the Mataró City Council, consolidating the active participation of students in the social and educational field. .
The implementation of Service Learning has integrated learning processes and community service in a subject in which Nursing degree students have been trained alongside a group of recently arrived migrant women. These women experience migratory grief. The focus has been on addressing their real needs with the aim of improving them, explains professor and researcher Gemma Garreta i Parés, PDI of the Degree in Nursing.
The project has been carried out over six weeks during which work sessions and collective reflection have been carried out. In these sessions, spaces have been created to deliberate and exchange reflections on the transformation towards a more just and equitable society, oriented towards shared objectives and the common good.
The innovative and reflective educational proposal is based on the students’ ability to integrate three fundamental principles of social justice: critical awareness towards the fair and equitable distribution of resources, recognition of others and their diversity, and democratic participation. . This approach aims to address the educational needs of students in relation to social inequalities in health, at the same time as providing a service to the community, responding to needs previously identified in a collaborative manner between the students and the group of women from the Guaita collective. . All of this is addressed from a sustainability perspective and within the closest context.
Garreta highlights that the academic approach to nursing, “based on a solid ethic and humanistic approach, has intrinsic in its professionalism the humanization of care.” “This involves addressing the specific needs of each person, whether inside or outside health institutions. Furthermore, it seeks to address the needs of the most invisible groups in our society, guaranteeing equitable access to health without distinctions of any kind,” she explains.
The Nursing Degree team, led by Garreta, is carrying out a study linked to the doctorate of said teacher, with the objective of evaluating the effectiveness of Service Learning in terms of changing the attitude of students towards the paradigm of social justice. This project is framed under the umbrella of the Research Group on Chronic Care and Health Innovation (GRACIS) of the Tecnocampus.
The research is funded by the National Conference of Nursing Deans (CNDE) and the Service for Quality, Learning and Innovation of the Tecnocampus (SQAI). This institutional support reinforces the importance and quality of the work carried out, consolidating the University as a reference in the field of Service Learning and research in Social Justice within the field of Nursing.
