Integrative review of studies of service-learning in health-related disciplines

Bachelor programs have been expanded to help the community learn about social issues and the accompany in responsibilities. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the studies that conducted service-learning (SL programs) in undergraduate curricula.

To identify the relevant studies, an integrative review was conducted. Eight electronic databases were searched for studies published from 2010–2018 in English and Korean. Studies included in this review analysis were all conducted using an experimental study design and focused on a SL program for undergraduate students who were in health care-related disciplines. Study characteristics including the authors, years of publication, study aims, sample size, disciplines, credit status, SL name usage, study design, and main outcomes were coded independently by two coders.

The initial search revealed 4753 studies, but only 53 of these met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The total sample size consisted of 7534 undergraduate students. The most frequently studied disciplines were nursing and medicine; 7 studies amalgamated the various health care disciplines. Among all the studies, 19 studies described SL programs that were applied during the freshman year, while 17 described SL programs that were conducted during the third and fourth years. All SL programs were applied within community settings such as rural areas, schools, low income countries, nursing homes, and long-term care service centers. In 32 studies, the SL program was conducted using an experimental design, and a one-group pre-post test design was used in 15 studies. The main outcome of all the studies was psycho-social-cultural competence. The number of studies published between 2010 and 2014 was 32 (60.4%), whereas 21 studies were published from 2015–2018. The term SL program was used in 12 studies, but specific program names were used in 41 studies. The SL program was offered as an elective course for credit in only 14 studies (26.4%).

SL programs may improve students’ community awareness in terms of cultural competence, skills, knowledge, and leadership. The content of the SL programs was well designed. However, in future studies, a reflection process should be applied.