A Faith Community Nursing Initiative

Faith community nursing is introduced to students in third year of the BScN curriculum as one of the roles that nurses may have in community health. The plan to develop a faith community nursing placement was initiated when a local parish contacted the nursing professor to have student nurses assist with blood pressure screening and the organization of a health fair. This request created a unique opportunity to have three students placed with a nursing professor to address the health needs of the parish members. Partnerships with educational institutions have been found to enhance faith community health care, and provide learners such as nursing students with an opportunity to practice in a faith-based learning environment (Maitlen, Bockstahler, & Belcher, 2012; Otterness, Gehrke, & Sener, 2007). The main objectives of this initiative were to review the literature on faith community nursing, identify a model to guide the assessment and work that would occur within the setting, and to complete a needs assessment of the faith community.  The assessment of the faith community was guided by the socio-ecological model (Campbell et al., 2007) which further informed the planning and delivery of the most appropriate health promotion activities within this setting.