Purpose Training of health professionals requires development of interprofessional competencies and assessment of these competencies. No validated tools exist to assess all four competency domains described in the 2011 Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (the IPEC Report). The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale based on the IPEC competency domains that assesses interprofessional attitudes of students in the health professions. Method In 2012, a survey tool was developed and administered to 1,549 students from the University of Utah Health Science Center, an academic health center composed of four schools and colleges (Health, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) were performed to validate the assessment tool, eliminate redundant questions, and to identify subscales. Results The EFA and CFA focused on aligning subscales with IPEC core competencies, and demonstrating good construct validity and internal consistency reliability. A response rate of 45% (n = 701) was obtained. Responses with complete data (n=678) were randomly split into two datasets which were independently analyzed using EFA and CFA. The EFA produced a 27-item scale, with five subscales (Cronbach’s alpha coefficients: 0.62 to 0.92). CFA indicated the content of the five subscales was consistent with the EFA model. Conclusions The Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS) is a novel tool that, compared to previous tools, better reflects current trends in interprofessional competencies. The IPAS should be useful to health sciences educational institutions and others training people to work collaboratively in interprofessional teams.

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The quest to understand ASD is monumental, dramatic and paradigmatically shifting. Research advances in ASD challenge the traditional understanding of autism and call for a "reconceptualization" of autism given the revolutionary impact of recent discoveries. Related to this reconceptualization of autism, are the countervailing forces signaling a shift in the research "agenda" where individuals with ASD are part of the research process-and offer an understanding of autism beyond bench science and traditional scholarship. Although many interpretations of autism remain grounded in the biomedical paradigm, individuals with autism, through narrative self-representations and activities are changing the perspective of autism transforming it from "cure to community. " The involvement of individuals with ASD, along with their families, and school and workplace representatives moves research closer to a "communityengaged" endeavor and helps to build a stronger science that is translational and sustainable. This paper examines the role of both community-based participatory research (CBPR) and participatory action research (PAR) in the study of autism issues via the trends analyzed by Scopus in journal publications within an established time-frame of publication dates and specific search analytics. An example of using an ecological model to explore the use of CBPR and PAR in autism research is presented. The goal of this review is to determine trends in publications in these domains and to assist scholars and future researchers to consider identified publications as a part of their plans to use CBPR or PAR designs and ecological models when designing their community engaged research methodology.