The Perceived Health Benefits of Community Service-Learning: Reminiscence Therapy's Impact on Novice Practitioners

The purpose of this study was to determine the health-related impact service-learning interventions had upon university students. College students from The University of Toledo were trained to conduct five, one-hour, sessions of Transmissive Reminiscence Therapy (TRT) with non-institutionalized seni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCollege student journal Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 104 - 116
Main Authors Waite, Phillip J, Tatchell, Thomas
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Project Innovation, Inc 01.03.2005
Project Innovation (Alabama)
Project Innovation Austin LLC
Subjects
Aging (Individuals)
Canada
College Students
Evaluation
Foreign Countries
Health aspects
Older Adults
Program Effectiveness
Recall (Psychology)
Service Learning
Student community service
Student service
Therapy
Well Being
Wellness
Canada
United States
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to determine the health-related impact service-learning interventions had upon university students. College students from The University of Toledo were trained to conduct five, one-hour, sessions of Transmissive Reminiscence Therapy (TRT) with non-institutionalized senior adults within their community. Another group of university students made five, one-hour, informal visits with non-institutionalized senior adults within their community. These groups were compared to a group of university students that did not carry out any form of service-learning. A sample of 89 university students completed the SF-36 health survey instrument at pretest and at posttest; 32 from the TRT group, 27 from the visitation group, and 30 from the control group. The analyses revealed significant positive change on 4 variables among students assigned to the therapy group, on 1 variable among students assigned to the visitation group, and on 2 variables among students assigned to the control group. Significant negative change was detected on 1 variable among students assigned to the visitation group, and on 1 variable among students assigned to the control group. The TRT form of service-learning proved to be the more effective of the two interventions aimed at impacting student health perceptions in a positive way.
ISSN:0146-3934
2691-3887