Challenges and Growth as a Mental Health Professional from Volunteering Experiences in the Community Gambling Awareness Campaign

As the demand for high-quality mental health services increases, producing expert nurses with the skills and expertise to deal with various complex mental health situations involving diverse subjects is critical. Nursing programsshould be prepared to provide education that can improve mental health professional competence. Using a qualitative study and focus group interviews, we focused on the experiences of nursing students who voluntarily participated in campaign activities to prevent gambling problems. The respondents were 23 nursing students who participated in the campaign for more than four months. Data were analyzed using Downe-Wamboldt’s eight steps of content analysis. The experiences of the participants were integrated into the theme of challenge and growth for a mental health professional with five sub-themes: challenging for an active nursing student, committing to gambling awareness campaign club activity, promoting interpersonal relationships, improving problem-solving skills, and developing a mental health professional identity. Planning and implementing various volunteer activities, in addition to the existing regular curriculum in nursing education, will provide a foundation for nursing students to become good nurses and ultimately help produce competent mental health professionals.