Session Information
15 SES 02 A, Practice Issues and Partnerships
Paper Session
Contribution
Introduction/background
In Norway, the government stresses interprofessional competences as important skills for students in higher education in the welfare professions. New regulations, emphasize that students need competence to initiate and support collaborative cooperation - interdisciplinary, interprofessional, and cross sectors. This common knowledge should to be relevant for problems students may meet as professionals. It is crucial that different professions in the municipalities collaborate to ensure the clients/patients/pupils qualified and sufficient support and help.
The field of interprofessional education is complex and intricate. Students from different professions, with a variety of knowledge bases, meet to develop a mutual understanding of the professions. A common knowledge base for working with challenges from the field of practice is developed. To bridge the gap between different professions and professional educations and between college and practice field, competency in interprofessional work should be weaved into the fabric of teaching and learning in professional educations.
Our project/research questions
We have developed the project “Interprofessional collaboration in practice” (2018-2020) where students from different professional studies (health, social studies and education) meet and collaborate. The students have their practicum in the same period in a municipality outside Oslo, and this is an opportunity to let students participate in a case based teaching seminar concerning interprofessional collaboration. In this presentation we ask the research questions:
How can university and practice field collaborate in developing interprofessional education?
- What are the main elements in developing a fruitful collaboration between university and municipality?
- How can a complex and relevant interprofessional case and seminar be developed?
- Which elements could a relevant case and seminar comprise?
Theoretical framework
The collaboration between university and municipality was understood within a transactional understanding of communication (Craig & Muller, 2007; Jensen & Ulleberg, 2019; Bateson, 1972), as well as the Norwegian philosopher Hans Skjervheim’s idea of a “three-membered” relationship (Skjervheim 1976). The three “members” are the university, the municipality and the content of the project: case based interprofessional teaching. In this way, we will pay attention to the relationship between the participants in the project as well as the participants’ relationship to the content. We can deal with questions of both process and product, and keep an eye on the content as relevant for the collaboration process.
Through interprofessional learning in practical settings, students can overcome barriers of interprofessional work, such as the stereotyping of other professions, dealing with complexity, understanding each other’s language and perspectives and sharing theoretical foundations (Barr, Helme & D’Avray, 2014; Lewitt, Cross, Sheward & Beirne, 2015). Furthermore, Newton et al. (2015) stress some issues as important in interprofessional education: 1. patient/client centeredness, 2. collaborative communication, 3. role understanding, 4. team functioning, (Newton et al., 2015).
We also made use of theories where case based teaching (CBT) is described as an active learning strategy where students apply their knowledge and their analytical skills to complex, relevant real-life scenarios (Giacalone, 2016). CBT involves cases that comprise real or realistic problems or challenges from the field of practice. Through working with a case, students share their knowledge with each other and combine knowledge from different areas (Kim et al., 2006).
In addition we made use of the didactic relational model in the development of both the case as well as the seminar (Bjørndal & Lieberg, 1978).
Method
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The collaboration in the project group drew on ideas from pedagogical action research, where participation, change and development are crucial (Fasting 2018). Pedagogical action research is based on democratic participation and ownership to the project (Fasting 2018), and the work in the project group was influenced by these ideas. The initiative and the problem to solve came from the practice field, and the researcher from the university participated in mutual collaboration with the parties from the community. We followed the steps in the action research cycle with phases such as discovery, forming ideas, developing prototype, trying out, evaluate, redesign, new trying out and so on (Jensen, 2019). We carried out a proactive action research, where the purpose was to develop and try out new methods (Schmuck 2006). In the project, we paid attention to local, contextual conditions to make the case and seminar fit with the situation in the municipality. At the same time we kept a keen eye on the universal, decontexualised possibilities of the case, and explored how the project could be relevant to other municipalities (Fasting 2018). The project was lead as a joint venture between the university and the municipality, where each party contributed with important and necessary competency. We were aware of the patterns that connected the collaboration in the project group to the interprofessional collaboration in the seminar, and we wanted to communicate congruent ideals on different communicative levels (Bateson, 1972). The establishment of the project group as well as the development of the project was documented through notes, memos and plans. The project process (the collaboration in the group) and the product (case and plan for seminar) were in retrospect evaluated by the project group’s participants through a questionnaire as well as written reflections.
Expected Outcomes
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Interprofessional education is relevant for professional education within different fields, and practicum is a meeting place for students from different programs. The interprofessional case as well as the seminar plan can be modified and used in other educational settings. Furthermore, the project describes relevant experiences from collaboration between university and municipality that can be of general interest. The project can also be a point of departure for exploring interprofessional education further.
References
References Barr, H., Helme, M. & D’Avray, L. (2014). Review of Interprofessional Education in the United Kingdom (1997-2013). Retrieved from Caipe.org. https://www.caipe.org/resources/publications/caipe-publications/caipe-2014-review-of-interprofessional-education-in-the-united-kingdom-1997-2013-in-brief-authored-by-barr-h-helme-m-davray-l Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Ballantine Books. Bjørndal, B. og Lieberg, S. (1978) Nye veier i didaktikken? Oslo: Aschehoug. Craig, R.T. & Muller, H.L. (red.). (2007). Theorizing communication. Reading across traditions. London: Sage. Fasting, R. (2018). Pedagogisk aksjonsforskning. In R. Fasting (red.), Pedagogisk systemarbeid (s. 62-72). Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk. Giacalone, D. (2016). Enhancing Student Learning with Case-Based Teaching and Audience Response Systems in an Interdisciplinary Food Science Course. Higher Learning Research Communications, 6(3). Retreived from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.hioa.no/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=dd21ed08-d2a5-4d5b-bf87-5caa2834d4f6%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=EJ1132745&db=eric Jensen, P. & Ulleberg, I. (2019). Mellom ordene – kommunikasjon i profesjonell praksis. 2th ed. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk. Jensen, J.B. (2019). Design af aktionsforskningsprojekter – et æstetisk, samskabende blik på vidensudvikling. In: M.S.K.Sunesen (Red.) Aktionsforskning . Indefra og udefra. Fredrikshavn: Dafolo. Kim, s., Phillips, W.R., Brock, D., Phillips, K. & Keary, J. (2006). A conceptual framework for developing teaching cases: a review and synthesis of the literature across disciplines. Med Educ, 40(9), 867-876. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2929.2006.02544.x Lewitt, M., Cross, A., Sheward, L. & Beirne, P. (2015). Interprofessional Education to Support Collaborative Practice: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Retrieved from https://www.srhe.ac.uk/downloads/LewittCrossFinalReport.pdf Newton, C., Bainbridge, L., Ball, V. Baum, K.D., Bontje, P., Boyce, R., Moran, M., Richardson, B., Tamura, Y., Uden, D., Wagner, S. & Wood, V. (2015). The Health Care Team Challenge: Developing an international interprofessional education research collaboration. Nurse Education Today, 35(1), 4-8. Doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2014.07.010 Schmuck, R. (2006). Practical Action Research for Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwyn Press. Skjervheim, H. (1976). Deltakar og tilskodar og andre essays. Oslo: Tanum-Norli.
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