Indiana University School of Nursing is committed to finding innovative ways to advance the health of the communities it serves. Whether you’re a faculty member or a student, you’ll have opportunities to lead or participate in health promotion projects that are building healthier communities in south-central Indiana.
Get Onboard with Active Living (G.O.A.L.) University is an obesity prevention program for children ages 4 to 12. Nursing students in the Promoting Healthy Populations Practicum work with students in after-school programs at Monroe County Community School Corporation elementary schools and the Ellettsville Boys and Girls Club, where they educate the students about nutrition and exercise.
The program is a partnership among IU Bloomington’s schools of nursing, public health, and social work; IU Health; the Monroe County Community School Corporation; and the Ellettsville Boys and Girls Club.
300+Children participated in the pilot program
21%Increase in students who reported eating breakfast daily
26%Decrease in students who reported watching “a lot” of TV
For more information about the Aldrich Project, contact Kim Decker, project director.
The Dr. Anita Aldrich Community Health Promotion Project is an interdisciplinary effort to identify the health care needs of the residents of south-central Indiana and improve the region’s health care services.
Funded by a gift from IU School of Nursing Professor Emerita Anita Aldrich, the project is a collaboration among IU’s health sciences schools, IU Health, local public health departments, and community health organizations.
In the first phase of the Aldrich Project, the School of Nursing led a comprehensive health assessment of Brown, Greene, Jackson, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan, and Owen counties. The results of the assessment helped the project team identify community priorities for evidence-based interventions and opportunities for interprofessional health education and practice.
Based on the results of the assessment, a pilot project was implemented at Paragon Elementary School in fall 2016. “Say It Straight” is a communications assertiveness program that teaches elementary school children healthy ways to communicate with others. Six IU nursing students were trained to teach the curriculum, which they delivered during after-school programs.
Since then, the “Say It Straight” program has been expanded to include elementary and middle schools in five counties (Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, and Morgan), six school systems, thirteen schools, and five after-school programs. The program has been taught by 67 students in the IU School of Nursing, as well as 19 students in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, the School of Public Health, and the School of Social Work, to over 2,800 school-age students.
In the fall 2020 semester, the Aldrich Project aligned with regional school systems to teach the Second Step® curriculum to children in kindergarten through 8th grade. Second Step is a social emotional learning process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
In the past few years, we have added the School of Education as well as IU Volunteer Corp students to our project. To date, we have taught over 5,000 school-age children the Second Step® curriculum, with 99 students in the IU School of Nursing, as well as 49 students in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, the School of Education, the School of Public Health, and the IU Volunteer Corp.
IU School of Nursing
Bloomington
