Developing and evaluating the integration of Life and Social Sciences teaching to first-year Nursing and Midwifery students

Title: Evaluating the integrating of life and social sciences teaching to first-year nursing and midwifery students <br/><br/>Objectives: To evaluate an integrated teaching and learning approach to first-year nursing students, combining the life, social sciences and public health with a more integrated and clinical focused approach to teaching delivery<br/><br/>Background: Historically within the School of Nursing and Midwifery the life sciences and social sciences had been taught as separate modules with separate teaching teams. This had reflected in a somewhat dis-integrated approach to student learning and understanding without clear clinical focus on application. With focus upon student learning the teaching teams engaged with a stepped, incremental and progressive movement towards developing and delivering a more integrated structure of learning, combining the life sciences, social sciences and public health teaching and learning within the one extended first-year module. The focus was particularly on integrated understanding and clinical relevance. This paper discusses both the approach to developing the integrated model of teaching and the evaluation of that teaching. <br/><br/>Results: The module, combining life, social science and Public health teaching was positively evaluated by the students. Evaluations are compared and contrasted from to nursing student intakes.<br/>