Health promotion is viewed as an essential component of patient care for which nurses are accountable. The World Health Organization defines health promotion as a process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health.1 As a profession, nurses are expected to collaborate with others to protect and promote the health of individuals, families, and the wider community.2

Many registered nurses (RNs) are returning to school, enrolling in RN to bachelor of science (BS) in nursing programs. These degree completion programs should provide clinical practice experiences that assist graduates to achieve competence in applying health promotion/disease prevention strategies.3,4 Practice experiences in RN-BS programs allow students opportunities to engage in activities that both directly and indirectly influence the health of individuals and communities.

Graduates of BS programs are valued for their skills in leadership and health promotion.2 Often, these abilities go unrecognized or are hidden to the community at large. Nurse educators can make students' health promotion activities more visible by providing writing opportunities geared to the general public audience. The purpose of this article is to describe a writing-for-publication health promotion activity that RN-BS students enrolled in a population health nursing (PHN) course were encouraged to complete.

Identifying and Connecting the Partners

Curry College is a small private liberal arts-based college located near Boston, Massachusetts, with an estimated 540 RN-BS students. Each nursing student is required to complete a PHN course, which includes a health promotion activity in the community.

Youth Health Connection (YHC) is a community benefit program of South Shore Hospital (SSH), a leading regional provider of acute, outpatient, home health, and hospice care to approximately 750,000 of Southeastern Massachusetts. Programs and services provided by YHC are available to school nurses, school personnel, parents, health providers, law enforcement officials, and community youth workers. One unique resource offered by YHC is a 4-page e-newsletter published weekly and sent via Constant Contact to 1,400 e-mail addresses. It also is sent to school nurses across the state and to internal staff and physicians at the Hospital, sent home via electronic backpacks, posted on school Web sites in some communities, and shared on the SSH Facebook page and YHC Twitter account. This weekly communication is a vital tool for staying connected and sharing health promotion information throughout a large geographic region.5

The faculty member for the PHN course contacted the YHC program coordinator to inquire about the possibility for student-authored article submissions in the YHC e-newsletter. This outreach began a unique educational partnership that affords RN-BS population health students the opportunity to author health promotion articles.

Two major learning outcomes for the PHN course are for students to become proficient in providing health promotion activities in the community and skillful in communicating with community agencies, individuals, families, and populations. Writing a health promotion article for a general audience in the community is an activity that helps students achieve these outcomes. In addition, YHC welcomes content by "guest authors" for publication in the e-newsletter. This content offers varied and unique perspectives on current family and youth health topics, which is valued by readers.

Project Highlights

Over the course of 3 semesters, beginning in summer 2014, 17 RN-BS students have chosen to complete this alternate assignment. An overview of the assignment is given by the YHC program coordinator during one of the early class sessions in the term (see Table, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/NE/A257). The overview includes (1) general information about YHC; (2) the e-newsletter target population, scope of publication, and an example of a recent edition; (3) a topic idea list generated by the YHC program coordinator related to monthly thematic health and safety topics; (4) a publication deadline timetable that includes due by dates for first draft, final draft, and actual publication date; and (5) article submission guidelines. The articles are between 125 and 400 words, with a readability level of Flesh-Kincaid grade level range 7.0 to 10.9; include a copyright-free image to enhance the article; and include an author byline. Students have the content reviewed by the College Writing Center before submitting the paper.

Interested students then contact the YHC program coordinator via e-mail, cc'ing their PHN faculty member with their preferred topic theme, specific idea, and deadline dates (eg, topic theme for September: Childhood Cancer Awareness, specific article idea: Supporting Siblings at Home and in School, publication date: September 17, 2015, first draft due: June 11, 2015, and final content due: June 23, 2015). Once this is approved by the YHC program coordinator, students research and write their article, meet with College Writing Center support staff to review it, complete any suggested edits, search for a related image, and forward the article and image to the YHC program coordinator and faculty member. Edits continue until a final article is submitted to the YHC program coordinator, who then completes an evaluation using a rubric designed for the assignment and forwards the completed rubric to the faculty member. Once the article is published, both the electronic version and print copies are provided to both the nursing students and faculty member. Students then have the opportunity to share their publication with employers and coworkers and through professional social media networking sites.

Challenges and Strengths of the Partnership

Project barriers encountered were students' reticence in writing for the general public, especially with English as a second language learners; keeping PHN faculty informed through the process; and students' lack of knowledge on how to assess readability of a written sample and obtain copyright free images. Major strengths for this project include the (1) creation of a strong partnership between the PHN faculty and YHC coordinator, (2) YHC coordinator has teaching experience with RN-BS students, (3) provision of clear assignment guidelines and grading rubric for students, and (4) support of students by the College Writing Center.

Opportunities and Benefits of Collaboration

This assignment has helped students appreciate other ways nurses can promote health in the community. Through use of electronic formats, social media platforms, and video links, nurses can share their knowledge publicly and be an important source for health information with all generations of consumers.

This academic-practice project embodies PHN in the 21st century. The written assignment offers a collaborative practice experience for nurse educators to consider that allows students to influence health at the individual and population levels. Moreover, many students found the chance to write professionally rewarding and feel it will enhance their nursing careers.

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