The measurement of stereotypes in the evaluation of Interprofessional Education

This chapter is directed at evaluators using student stereotypes of health and social care (HSC) professionals to understand the processes and outcomes of Interprofessional Education (IPE) programmes. The chapter focuses on the definition of stereotypes and justifies their inclusion in an evaluation from a theoretical, evaluative and curriculum perspective. This is followed by a summary and discussion of existing means of measurement used in IPE and some practical implications to this endeavour. The chapter concludes with the findings of some existing evaluations

Will opposites attract? Similarities and differences in students' perceptions of the stereotype profiles of other health and social care professional groups

The extent to which health and social care (HSC) students hold stereotypical views of other HSC professional groups is of great potential importance to team working in health care. This paper explores students' perceptions of different HSC professional groups at the beginning of their university programmes. Findings are presented from an analysis of baseline data collected as part of the New Generation Project longitudinal cohort study which is assessing the impact of interprofessional education over time on a range of variables including stereotyping. Questionnaires were administered to a cohort of over 1200 students from 10 different HSC professional groups entering their first year of university. Stereotypes were measured using a tool adapted from Barnes et al. (2000) designed to elicit stereotype ratings on a range of nine characteristics. The findings confirm that students arrive at university with an established and consistent set of stereotypes about other health and social care professional groups. Stereotypical profiles were compiled for each professional group indicating the distinctive characteristics of the groups as well as the similarities and differences between groups. Midwives, social workers and nurses were rated most highly on interpersonal skills and on being a team player whilst doctors were rated most highly on academic ability. Doctors, midwives and social workers were perceived as having the strongest leadership role, whilst doctors were also rated most highly on decision making. All professions were rated highly on confidence and professional competence and, with the exception of social workers, on practical skills. A comparison of profiles for each professional group reveals that, for example, pharmacists and doctors were perceived as having very similar characteristics as were social workers, midwives and nurses. However, the profiles of nurses and doctors were perceived to be very different. The implications of these similarities and differences are discussed in terms of their potential impact on interprofessional interactions, role boundaries and team working

A Systematic Review of the Selected Evidences on the Effectiveness of Inter-professional Education (IPE) in Developing Interprofessional Learning Environment

Purpose: This systematic review aimed to provide available evidence in determining for the effectiveness of IPE as a modality in developing interprofessional learning environment for healthcare students.Methods: The computerized searches from 2009-2015 in ten electronic databases were performed. Two independent reviewers were consulted to assess the eligibility, level of evidences and methodological quality in each study. Result: nine out of ten studies were retrieved. These studies include (a) two RCT studies; scored eight and seven out of eight, (b) Three quasi-experimental pretestposttest design; scored seven, six, and six out of eight, (c) Three controlled before and after study; scored six, six, five and five out of eight, and (d) one controlled longitudinal; scored six out of eight respectively.Conclusion: Based on the systematic review, evidence showed that IPE was effective in building strong interprofessional learning environment. On the other hand, the authors recommend considering conduct of similar systematic review grounded on IPE with larger sample size within the health allied discipline

An overview of the nature of the preparation of practice educators in five health care disciplines

Practice education is a core element of all educational programmes that prepare health care professionals for academic award and registration to practice. Ensuring quality and effectiveness involves partnership working between Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) and health care providers, social care communities, voluntary and independent sectors offering client care throughout the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Clearly practitioners who support, supervise and assess learners for entry to their respective professions need to be well prepared and supported in their roles as practice educators. However it would appear that the nature of this support and preparation varies across disciplines and that good practice is not easily shared. With this in mind, the Making Practice Based Learning Work (MPBLW) project aims to make practitioners more effective at supporting and supervising students in the workplace across a range of health care disciplines namely Dietetics, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Radiology. The Department of Employment and Learning (Northern Ireland) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England has funded this collaborative project involving staff from Ulster, Northumbria and Bournemouth Universities. The outcomes for each phase of the project are: Phase One: • Identify and document good practice on how practitioners are prepared for their educational role. Phase Two: • Develop and evaluate learning materials for use by practitioners across five health care disciplines. • Make learning materials available in a number of efficient media, e.g. paper, electronic, CD-ROM and web-based. • Develop a programme applicable to interprofessional and uniprofessional contexts. • Widen access for a multicultural workforce. Phase Three: • Embed best educational practice through the establishment of an academicpractitioner network. • Disseminate a range of materials and processes across the wider academic and health and social care communities

Higher Education Research in Scotland: Report of a Survey Undertaken by Universities Scotland Educational Development Sub-Committee

The aim of this study was to gain an insight into a range of higher educational research taking place across Scotland with a particular focus on the nature, expertise, support and dissemination of this research. For the purposes of this study, we used the term ‘research into higher education’ to refer to a range of higher educational research activity that included: research into higher education policies and practice, pedagogical research, research into learning and teaching taking place in higher education and research about transition from further education or school into higher education. The findings point to the underground nature of pedagogic research taking place in Scotland. Many researchers are based within disciplines and their pedagogic research is disseminated in a variety of settings that do not always make it easily accessible within generic higher education research discourse. Pedagogic research is also apparently undervalued, with many academic staff experiencing pressure to prioritise publishing within their main discipline over and above pedagogic research. In addition there appears to be a lack of capacity within Scottish institutions to maximise the profile of higher educational research in the forthcoming UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise

Playing our part: the work of graduate and registered mental health nurses. An independent review by the Foundation of Nursing Studies

Playing our Part was completed early in 2017 just as the UK Prime Minister announced a call to action on mental health. The Foundation of Nursing Studies (FoNS) welcomes any renewed political focus on the mental health agenda. We believe graduate and registered mental health nurses are well placed to play a significant part in public mental health and wellbeing, and this report offers some proposals to optimise this role. It is important to note that the report focuses on the work of graduate and registered mental health nurses; in doing so and in suggesting ways of improvement, we are clear the beneficiaries must be people who experience mental illness. This work did not set out to comment on health and social care funding or its impact on mental health frontline services, but debate and arguments on funding and poor service provision featured constantly during the course of the work. There are significant moves to change health and social care through new workforce roles across the UK in response to mental health policies. The existing workforce must accommodate and adapt to these changes and work alongside those in the new roles. However, supervision requirements and new partnerships will need to be thought through with purpose. From the perspective of this report, it is important that workforce planners, employers and healthcare professionals do not focus on delivering numbers and creating ‘new’ workforce personnel without proper consideration of the deployment and redeployment of graduate and registered mental health nurses. Meanwhile, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is undertaking a wide-ranging consultation on nursing and midwifery competencies and standards. Graduate and registered mental health nurses are concerned this could lead to a single ‘generic’ nurse registration, meaning they will lose their specialist identity. This cannot occur without new legislation so the NMC’s consultative work throughout 2017 will not change the different fields of registration. However, legislation will be needed to accommodate the new nursing associate role – now to be regulated by the NMC – so single registration could be brought forward at that point. A clear evidence base will be needed to support any move to ‘absorb’ mental health nursing in this way, 65 years after it was recognised as a specialist registration (Carr et al., 1980). In this report the term ‘we’ is often used. To be clear, this shorthand indicates that FoNS is reporting the views of respondents and consultees with expertise in mental health services, education, research and clinical practice; the views are not necessarily those of the Foundation. In undertaking this work, we have had to navigate the complexities of the health and social care system and professional regulation, but we hope we have cut through these to add clarity to the potential future role of graduate and registered mental health nurses. It is in this spirit of facilitating progress that FoNS is pleased to present this report

Caring About the Shape of Mental Health Nursing: A survey investigating practitioner’s perceptions towards potential changes to undergraduate education

While there is a growing disquiet about the future of mental health nursing, there is little in the way of an organised, unified response from mental health nurses. The Health and Social Care Information Centre report a fall in the number of mental health nurses of more than 10% over the past five years. A survey was launched to explore stakeholders perspectives on the future of mental health nursing. The interest in and the analysis of this survey indicates that we are at the start of a key discussion rather than at the end point of consensus. It is vital that mental health nurses have opportunities to consider and test their opinions on these issues and the confidence to speak up and be hear

Resilience in Adolescents Who Survived a Suicide Attempt from the Perspective of Registered Nurses in Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities

The number of deaths by suicide has increased over the last few years. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore components of resilience in adolescents who survived a suicide attempt from the perspective of nine psychiatric nurses. Resilience was used as a guiding conceptual framework which proposes that resilience is the interplay between risk and protective factors. Three categories emerged including risk factors, protective factors, and future recommendations of suicide prevention strategies. The perspectives gained from this study will help develop nursing interventions for adolescents to overcome risk factors and to build on their protective factors