Today first year nursing students at Ayr campus were presenting posters either to do with depression or obesity as part of a formative assignment. The event was to highlight a health promotion campaign. They researched in groups, produced a poster together and then showcased the posters to the rest of the peers across the mental health and nursing programs.

“My group has done a poster about depression” said Sam Nesbitt, a mental health student,  “we’ve done a recovery wheel showing things that correlate with depression like diet or lifestyle choices and other things that will help you come out of your depression like exercise or eating better or joining social groups like park run.” Most of the posters included simple practical tips on what you can do by yourself to help you fight depression.

“My poster was about obesity and the relation between obesity and health. We analysed risk factors, what you can do to help and what are the consequences of being obese” said Ashley Gwyne, a nursing student. There is only so much information you can get into a poster but some of them were very creative and eye-catching.

The whole exercise was part of the learning process, to research information and to present it in a clear and compelling way. They all put a great effort and the result was was visible. Many of the students I talked to thought it was fun and useful for learning how to take care of your health in the future.

They got to ask questions to each other, to talk to other groups who did posters about the same issue and the end they had to vote for the best poster, putting stickers under it. “It’s been a quite educational experience” said Sam Nesbitt, a nursing student, “and I was especially interested in learning how obesity and depression are actually correlated”.