title: Breaking ground: combining community service, critical thinking, and writing in a mental health clinical course.
abstract: This article describes the experience of a team of nursing educators who, over the course of 2 years, redesigned the delivery of an undergraduate nursing clinical course to reflect the changing face of mental health care near the turn of this century. Case studies of student learning experiences show the value of nontraditional clinical settings such as homeless shelters to the professional growth and training of nursing students. Recommendations offer practical advice for combining nontraditional community-based clinical experiences with critical thinking exercises as key components of the mental health clinical course delivery.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University, Northwest School of Nursing, Gary 46408, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nardi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schlotman
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siwinski-Hebel
mesh_terms: D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D003479:Curriculum; D006801:Humans; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000193:education*; D013850:Thinking; D014956:Writing