Innovative Collaborative Service-Learning Experience among Dental Hygiene and Nurse Practitioner Students: A pediatric oral health pilot study.

Preventive oral health behaviors are essential for children during early stages of development. The purpose of this study was to pilot an innovative, collaborative service-learning (ICSL) experience for dental hygiene (DH) and primary care nurse practitioner (NP) students to address pediatric oral health. A convenience sample of DH and NP students (n=12) participated in the development, planning and delivery of an ICSL activity focusing on pediatric oral health to 44 pre-school aged children. A learning management system was used for the communicating, planning and evaluating the ICSL activity. The interprofessional socialization of the participants was measured using the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale (ISVS-9A/9/B) survey prior to and following the ICSL experience. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Twelve students agreed to participate in the ICSL experience (DH= 9 and NP=3) and completed the pre and post ISVS-9A/9B surveys. There was a positive change in interprofessional socialization scales (0.42) after the ICSL experience (=0.066) for all participants. Marginal statistically significant differences were identified among the DH participants (=0.058) in their pre and post interprofessional socialization scores. Within the limitations of this pilot study, the ICSL experience had a positive impact on NP and DH students' socialization to interprofessional collaboration. This low resource, service-learning educational project has potential for easy integration within dental hygiene and advanced practice nursing curricula.