4 59 How does IPE influence students’ perceptions of collaboration? INTRODUCTION Interprofessional education (IPE) aims to improve students’ collaborative competencies and behaviour, and thereby prepare students for the care of complex patients (Dyess et al., 2019; Reeves et al., 2013). The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes the importance of IPE and interprofessional collaboration (IPC) and formulates the following definitions (Gilbert et al., 2010): • ‘Interprofessional education occurs when two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes’. • ‘Collaborative practice in healthcare occurs when multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds provide comprehensive services by working with patients, their families, care givers and communities to deliver the highest quality of care across settings’. According to the model of interprofessionality by D'Amour and Oandasan (2005), IPE can improve patient care by influencing IPC. Most IPE-studies investigate the effect of interventions on IPC with quantitative measures (Berger-Estilita et al., 2020; Fox et al., 2018; Gould et al., 2017). But how is this change in IPC, which is a behavioural change, established by an IPE intervention? We know from Beck’s cognitive model that perceptions and ideas influence behaviour (Beck & Haigh, 2014). Therefore, a behavioural change of students in clinical practice might be the result of a change in students’ perceptions and ideas. A qualitative study to investigate the effect of IPE on students’ perceptions would add to the literature and understanding of how IPE is effective, and can therefore help to shape powerful IPE-interventions. Accordingly, the primary research question of this study was: How does IPE in a classroom setting influence students’ perceptions of collaboration in clinical practice? It is important to determine in which forms IPE should be offered, so that it indeed improves students’ perceptions about collaboration. Several studies suggest IPE is most effective when offered in authentic settings (i.e. clinical practice) (Visser et al., 2019). What is not known is whether IPE can also change students’ perceptions when offered in a classroom setting. This might be less authentic, but can be established more easily. Evidence for classroom IPE changing students’ perceptions about collaboration in clinical practice can be helpful in making IPE a substantial component of health professions’ education curricula.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw