• Escola de Talentos (Apoio à Vida)
• Centro Social e Paroquial de S. Vicente Paulo
• ARCIL – Associação para a Recuperação de Cidadãos Inadaptados da Lousã
• Associação de Oficiais das Forças Armadas (AOFA)
• Os Trombinhas – Creche e Jardim de Infância (Odivelas)
• Colégio Santa Cruz (Lisboa)

Training needs in Basic Life Support were identified through close and complementary relationships with beneficiary institutions, some of which have collaborated with the project over several years and others through first contact. Partner institutions communicate their needs to the project coordination team, and planning is carried out in close collaboration with the coordination team and students.

Reciprocity is central to the project. Community organizations help define needs, host activities, facilitate engagement with beneficiaries, and evaluate the training’s relevance and impact. They receive face-to-face health education and practical training in Basic Life Support, while students develop clinical, educational, communication, ethical and civic competences through supervised real-world service. The project is sustained by repeated partner requests, feedback questionnaires, final reflection sessions, and annual planning with students and partner entities.

Capacitar para Salvar (“Empower to Save”) is a face-to-face service-learning initiative developed by the Lisbon School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing, Universidade Católica Portuguesa. The project involves undergraduate and master’s nursing students enrolled in curricular units related to human illness, family care, community intervention, and integrated nursing. Although participation is optional, students may earn 1 ECTS through supervised preparation, community service, and structured reflection. The project has been integrated as a Service-Learning methodology since 2020 and has existed as a community health-promotion project since 2012.

Students learn to apply and teach the Basic Life Support algorithm in diverse community contexts, using effective communication adapted to each target group. They also develop an ethical and humanistic nursing practice grounded in human dignity and the value of life, with active civic intervention among vulnerable populations.

Service activities:

• preparation and delivery of health education workshops on Basic Life Support
• theoretical-practical sessions
• simulated practice supervised by teachers/trainers
• training in recognition of cardiorespiratory arrest, activation of emergency services, chest compressions, recovery position and airway obstruction manoeuvres
• delivery of diplomas
• educational flyers to participants

Learning activities:

• Meetings with responsible teachers
• theoretical and practical preparation
• development of educational content and session plans
• simulated rehearsal of sessions with teacher supervision
• implementation of sessions in partner institutions
• collection of feedback
• guided reflection throughout the project
• final reflection/closure

Students participate actively in planning and implementation: preparing content, designing session plans, rehearsing and adapting strategies to the target audience, delivering the sessions, collecting feedback and reflecting on the pedagogical, organizational and ethical dimensions of the project. They communicate with people of different ages, educational backgrounds, health literacy levels, and social circumstances.

Through feedback and guided reflection before, during, and after the service, students examine their pedagogical decisions, ethical responsibilities, and the impact of their intervention. The reflection connects academic learning with community service, enabling students to analyze their communication, teaching strategies, civic responsibility, ethical-humanistic nursing practice, and the impact of their intervention on beneficiaries and partner institutions.

• process evaluation of student performance
• final evaluation at the end of the academic year
• questionnaires to evaluate health education sessions
• satisfaction and impact questionnaires for partner organizations, educators/users and beneficiaries
• database analysis of session evaluations
• written reflections/testimonies and teacher evaluation of student participation

Values

• Valuing human dignity and human rights

Attitudes

• Civic-mindedness
• Openness to cultural otherness and to other beliefs, world views and practices
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Self-efficacy

Skills

• Analytical and critical thinking skills
• Co-operation skills
• Empathy
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Linguistic, communicative and plurilingual skills

Knowledge and critical understanding

• Knowledge and critical understanding of the self
• Knowledge and critical understanding of the world

Students engage with real community needs and diverse publics, including children, young people, formal and informal caregivers and socially vulnerable groups. Through this experience, students are encouraged to value human dignity, human rights, life, and health equity. They develop civic-mindedness, responsibility, openness to diversity, and respect for people whose experiences and circumstances may differ from their own.

Through preparation, supervised service, feedback and reflection, students practice inclusive communication, solidarity, responsibility, ethical decision-making and respect for different social contexts. This process strengthens their clinical, communication, and teamwork skills while developing flexibility, empathy, critical thinking, and confidence in their ability to contribute to the community. Students also build knowledge and critical understanding as they consider how social vulnerability, unequal access to health information, and different levels of health literacy can affect people’s capacity to respond in an emergency.

• development of competence to teach and apply Basic Life Support in community contexts
• improved health education, communication and pedagogical skills
• stronger civic engagement and responsibility
• greater awareness of vulnerability, equity and community health needs;
• development of teamwork, organization and reflective practice

The project aims to train approximately 400 beneficiaries/year, improving community capacity to recognize cardiorespiratory arrest and act before professional help arrives. Participants are trained through safe simulated practice and receive diplomas and educational flyers, becoming potential agents for disseminating information within their communities. Partner feedback and continuing requests for collaboration indicate perceived usefulness and community value.

• high number of requests from external entities compared with the availability of the project team
• implementation depends on coordination with partner schedules, availability of trained students/alumni/teachers
• appropriate training materials

• nursing/health expertise
• trained teachers or clinical supervisors
• motivated students
• community partners willing to co-plan and host activities
• Basic Life Support equipment (manikins, AED trainer, pocket mask and audiovisual resources)
• risk/safety procedures
• evaluation questionnaires
• time allocated for reflection and feedback