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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
Interprofessional education (IPE) is an accreditation requirement and an important component of training for future registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs). The dietetics program at the University of Arizona (UA) prepares students to become RDNs and has an online program to increase access to dietetics training. The existing face-to-face program incorporated in-person IPE into the curriculum. However, there was limited IPE available to dietetics students in the online program due to logistical and resource issues. To address this problem of practice, an online IPE module was developed providing dietetics students the opportunity to build collaborative skills with students in other UA healthcare training programs. A mixed methods action research study was designed to answer two research questions: (1) How and to what extent did participation an online IPE module impact online dietetics students’ interprofessional attitudes? and (2) After participating in an online IPE module, in what ways did online dietetics students change their thinking regarding the roles of healthcare professionals? Participants were dietetics students enrolled in an upper-division online dietetics course. Data gathered included a retrospective pre-post survey, online team discussion responses, reflection journal entries, personal constructs related to health professional roles, and focus group interviews. Results suggested that the online IPE intervention had a positive impact on dietetics students’ attitudes of interprofessional practice and enhanced their understanding of the roles of members of the interprofessional team. Both the quantitative and qualitative results indicated that after completing the intervention, participants’ were more attuned to the importance of interprofessional practice and the need to collaborate to provide quality patient care. There was also evidence that participants’ thinking regarding different healthcare professionals’ roles were more defined. The opportunity for participants to work on a final project as part of an interprofessional team likely contributed to the positive shared learning experiences and overall growth in interprofessional collaboration. In relation to practice, results indicate IPE should be included throughout dietetics training, and embrace students from a variety of public health disciplines. Future research should focus on exploring new approaches to engaging students in the online environment and evaluating the impact of IPE on students’ future practice.
ContributorsJackson, Kelly (Author) / Kurz, Terri (Thesis advisor) / Yañez-Fox, Lisa (Committee member) / Marian, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Interprofessional educators increasingly recognize the importance of establishing graduated interprofessional learning strategies to socialize and prepare learners to work in collaborative care environments. Interprofessional socialization (IPS) is the process of bringing students together from different disciplines to learn from, with, and about each other. However, education programs struggle to systematically integrate evidence-based interprofessional learning. Community-engaged learning, a pedagogical tool adaptable to diverse circumstances, offers an opportunity to expand IPS. The purpose of this mixed methods action research dissertation study was to explore the factors that contribute to IPS through participation in a community-engaged learning course and how IPS evolves among early learners. In this study, I explored several factors, including theoretically-grounded and contextually relevant teaching and learning strategies pivotal to IPS. Specifically, I created and facilitated an innovative pilot Interprofessional Education and Community Health course, guided by experiential learning theory, asset-based and critical pedagogy and flow theory. I found that these theoretically guided instructional techniques nurtured the benefits of team-based experiential learning, inspired a community of confident learners through praxis, and promoted optimal engagement in challenging and meaningful health promotion activities. The learner’s diverse backgrounds, meaningful community-engagement, and challenging collaborative assignments contributed to IPS. The shared novel real-world experiences ignited emotional reactions that nurtured their relationships; facilitating their ability to address conflicts. They sustained motivation to participate in community-engaged learning and maintained a consistent strong belief in the importance of working as a team. Whereas, their understanding of interprofessional teamwork, comfort and preference working on interprofessional teams grew over time. Four pedagogical strategies pivotal to interprofessional socialization emerged for use with community-engaged interprofessional education: 1) purposeful community partnerships, 2) structured collaborative written assignments, 3) intentional conversations, and 4) welcoming cultural assets.
ContributorsRamella, Kelly Johnson (Author) / Sampson, Carrie (Thesis advisor) / Ross, Allison (Committee member) / Yañez-Fox, Lisa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Despite the increasing number of elementary and secondary school students with language and learning disabilities and federal laws mandating ongoing collaboration among diverse school professionals, the implementation and maintenance of Interprofessional Collaborative Practices (ICP) and classroom-based therapy services among teachers and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) is low. Teachers and SLPs need training to implement and maintain ICP and classroom-based therapy services. An interprofessional community of practice (ICoP) framework was developed to operationalize ICP competencies into measurable knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practice behaviors. These were incorporated into designing, implementing, and assessing the ICoP framework’s activities and outputs. Thus, the purpose of this mixed methods action research study was to examine the impact of the ICoP framework on teacher and SLP participants’ knowledge and self-efficacy of ICP competencies. The study also sought to build participants’ capacity to implement and maintain classroom-based therapy services for students with language and literacy impairments in an inclusive classroom setting. Participants included four general education teachers, five special education teachers, and three SLPs in a K-8 public school district in the southwest region of Arizona. Inferential statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze participants’ responses to surveys, semi-structured interviews, and logbook entries before and after the eight-week innovation. Results from the data analysis showed that teachers and SLPs demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge and self-efficacy of ICP.
ContributorsMiller, Rebecca (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Lilly, Kristen (Committee member) / Mathur, Sarup (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023