Date Presented 4/20/2018
This quantitative study investigated how international educational experiences influenced student intercultural communication skills, interprofessional attitudes, and professional identity. The interprofessional teamwork findings inform occupational therapy education and professional development.
Primary Author and Speaker: Lynne Andonian
PURPOSE: Limited research has explored the concept of professional identity coupled with international experiences for health care education. The purpose of this study was to measure how international educational experiences influenced three critical skills related to students’ capacity to work in diverse settings: (1) learning intercultural communication skills, (2) developing attitudes that enable interprofessional collaboration, and (3) developing a sense of professional identity. The study investigated four hypotheses: An international educational experience will significantly affect students’ self-report of (1) intercultural communication, (2) attitudes that support interprofessional collaboration, and (3) development of professional identity, and (4) students’ degree of cultural communication, interprofessional attitudes, and development of professional identity will be significantly and positively correlated.
The need for international and interprofessional learning opportunities within health care education was identified by the World Health Organization (2010) and is supported by national professional standards of accreditation (e.g., Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education [ACOTE], 2012). Interprofessional learning opportunities support students’ preparation to work in health care disciplines. Health providers are better equipped to work with diverse populations having had international experiences, which broaden one’s worldview (Jogerst et al., 2015).
METHOD: This study used a quantitative descriptive pretest–posttest design. Potential participants included students within the college of a public urban university of all genders, age 18+, of any race or ethnicity who participated in a faculty-led study abroad course in summer 2016 situated in Europe, Central America, or Asia. The recruitment email was sent to all 162 students who registered for the study abroad course and majored in nursing, occupational therapy, social work, kinesiology, and nutrition.
Data were collected before and after the study abroad course using three Likert scale self-report measures: (1) the Intercultural Communication Competence Scale (Arasaratnam, 2009), (2) the Macleod Clark Professional Identity Scale (Adams et al., 2006), and (3) the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (Norris et al., 2015). Data were analyzed using correlational descriptive statistics.
RESULTS: A total of 33 students completed the pre- and posttest measures. Results indicate that participation in a faculty-led study abroad course was positively and significantly related to interprofessional attitudes, particularly teamwork skills. Students participating in the study had high levels of intercultural communication skills both before and after the study abroad experience; it may be that students participating in such courses self-select on the basis of interest in learning about other cultures and intercultural communication skills already developed through previous coursework and intercultural experiences.
CONCLUSION: Occupational therapy education needs to prepare graduates to succeed in interprofessional and culturally diverse practice settings (in terms of both service recipients and team members). Faculty-led study abroad courses are one avenue to support student learning needs in preparation for interprofessional practice within diverse settings. Interprofessional teamwork is essential for occupational therapy practice, and this study supports the use of international educational experiences to develop teamwork skills in occupational therapy students to best prepare them for practice.
IMPACT STATEMENT: This study supports international educational experiences for occupational therapy students to foster the development of interprofessional teamwork skills. This preparation is important to the profession given that skills in interprofessional collaboration are mandated by the ACOTE standards. Further, interprofessional teamwork skills prepare graduates to work effectively with diverse colleagues and service recipients.
References
Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education. (2012). 2011 Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE®) standards. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 66, S6–S74. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2012.66S6
Adams, K., Hean, S., Sturgis, P., & Clark, J. M. (2006). Investigating the factors influencing professional identity of first-year health and social care students. Learning in Health and Social Care, 5, 55–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-6861.2006.00119.x
Arasaratnam, L. A. (2009). The development of a new instrument of intercultural communication competence. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 20(2), 2–2.
Jogerst, K., Callender, B., Adams, V., Evert, J., Fields, E., Hall, T., . . . Wilson, L. L. (2015). Identifying interprofessional global health competencies for 21st-century health professionals. Annals of Global Health, 81, 239–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aogh.2015.03.006
Norris, J., Carpenter, J. G., Eaton, J., Guo, J.-W., Lassche, M., Pett, M. A., & Blumenthal, D. K. (2015). The development and validation of the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale: Assessing the interprofessional attitudes of students in the health professions. Academic Medicine, 90, 1394–1400. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000000764
World Health Organization. (2010). Framework for action on interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/hrh/resources/framework_action/en/
