Teaching innovation in Psychosocial Nursing: experiential learning in natural environments to promote students’ emotional well-being

Abstract

Current nursing education has shown that students face high levels of stress and difficulty with emotional self-regulation, which negatively affects their professional development. To address this issue, a Teaching Innovation Project was carried out with the general objective of implementing a learning guide with active methodologies based on experiential learning in natural environments to improve the perceived quality of life and the integral development of learning among students in a Psychosocial Nursing course at Universidad del Desarrollo, Concepción campus. The core idea was to create a learning experience integrating knowledge, relational skills, and attitudes, underpinned by the nursing models of Hildegard Peplau and Joyce Travelbee. The project’s main topics were addressed through a pedagogical approach using a learning guide, which included three components: an introductory theoretical class in the classroom, a practical activity in a natural environment, and an asynchronous WebQuest on academic self-care. The project outcomes were highly positive. The evaluation, conducted via questionnaires with both quantitative and qualitative items, showed that 100% of the students positively valued the experience. The guide’s usefulness and applicability received between 96.7% and 100% favorable responses. Additionally, qualitative feedback revealed significant benefits such as enhanced emotional well-being and motivation for self-care. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the innovation and its high potential for replicability to other courses in the program.