Abstract
The aim of this study was to elucidate whether acquired interprofessional (IP) competencies increased with repeated IP courses. Methods. We used a cross-sectional survey including students from four IP courses at two Norwegian higher educational institutions. One site had a 1-2 weeks on-campus training for their bachelor students at the start of each of the three academic years, whilst the other site arranged a workplace-based course for final year health and social care students from both educational institutions. Students from the first site complete all three on-campus courses and the workplace-based course before completion of their education, while students from the second site only complete the workplace-based course. The IP competencies instrument was Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Survey (ICCAS), validated in Norwegian. Students completed the survey after IP training and rated their attained IP competencies both as they assessed them after training, and as they recalled them prior to training. Results. A total of 900 students from 16 different health and social care education programs gave their informed consent (83 % females, mean age 24.5 years). All courses provided high learning effects as measured by Cohen’s d. Students’ post-course scores did not vary significantly from course to course, but the learning effect was highest for the workplace-based course, both for students with previous IP training and students with no previous IP training. For the three campus-based courses, learning effect was higher in the first year than in the second and third years. We did not identify any significant increase of self-reported IP competencies by repeated IP courses. Conclusion. Learning effect seemed higher for the workplace-based IP course than for the campus-based IP courses, but we did not observe increased IP competencies with repeated IP courses. More research into factors facilitating transfer is needed in order to achieve efficient long-term IP learning that prepares our students for IP collaboration in real-life.
Recommended Citation
Baerheim, A., Ness, I., Kjome, R. S., Hustoft, M., Brenna, S. J., & Johannessen, A. (2025). Do repeating interprofessional (IP) courses stimulate to increased development of IP competencies?. Journal of Interprofessional Practice and Collaboration, 5(2). Retrieved from https://repository.ulm.edu/ojihp/vol5/iss2/1
