title: Service-learning: an eye-opening experience that provokes emotion and challenges stereotypes.
abstract: Descriptive phenomenology was used to explore the lived experience of nursing students in service-learning clinical placement working with families who are homeless. Fourteen students from two different service-learning courses involving a family homeless shelter participated in the interviews. Six constituent descriptions were identified from thematic analysis: eye-opening to realize the effects of homelessness on families; feeling intense emotions that are sometimes hard to express; realizing families who are homeless are both different from and similar to families who have housing; challenging and transforming assumptions, perceptions, and stereotypes; the importance of reflection; and discovering new and different aspects of the nursing role. This research contributes to existing knowledge about the relationships between service-learning and emotional learning, cross-cultural learning, transformational learning, and developing caring as a way of being, as well as provides valuable information about improving service-learning activities.
authors.affiliation: College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minnesota 55105, USA. rjhunt@stkate.edu
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hunt
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate / Q000458:organization & administration; D004518:Education, Professional, Retraining / Q000458:organization & administration; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013240:Stereotyping; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking