4 69 How does IPE influence students’ perceptions of collaboration? DISCUSSION This qualitative study explored the influence of IPE-sessions in a classroom setting medical and nursing students’ perceptions of IPC in clinical practice. Social capital theory was used as the theoretical lens. This study reveals new insights in how IPE-sessions in classroom setting influences students’ perceptions of IPC in clinical practice, by increasing their social capital. These insights contribute to the understanding of how and why knowledge transfers between IPE in undergraduate curricula and IPC in clinical practice. Most importantly, we studied the influence of IPE in a classroom setting on students’ perceptions of collaboration in clinical practice. Our results show four different, but related perceived influences of the IPE-sessions, which can be organised in steps. Each level builds on and is more complex than the previous one. Level 1 is the most easily achieved after IPE. On the other hand, Level 4 is less obvious for students to achieve, but it is a more desirable effect because students feel that patient care had actually improved. Figure 4.2 depicts how the different levels of effect, found in this study, are ordered. Figure 4.2: The four levels of learning effects of IPE found in this study All four levels in our study reflect an increase of social capital among students. Some students only learned specific items from the IPE-sessions (Level 1). Other students generalize the acquisition of this knowledge to more common knowledge about one’s own or others’ expertise (Level 2). The insight into the other’s expertise and the exchange of knowledge is commonly known to be a positive outcome of IPE (Guraya & Barr, 2018; Labrague et al., 2018; Marion-Martins & Pinho, 2020). Enlargement of these (knowledge) resources, as represented in Level 1 and 2, is described as one of the benefits of social capital. This refers to bridging social capital, since the knowledge or expertise belongs to a different group. Additionally, bridging social capital, IPE contributes to the enlargement of linking social capital among
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