Being seen by others as we see ourselves: the congruence between the ingroup and outgroup perceptions of health and social care students

Abstract

This article examines intergroup processes amongst neophyte health and social care students who are about to embark on an interprofessional education (IPE) programme. Positive relationships between students of the different professions must be optimized to promote student learning of each other, a central objective of these courses. It has been proposed that to reduce conflict and promote harmonious intergroup relations during this IPE activity, students from each professional group should feel their own group (the ingroup) to be distinctive from other professional groups (the outgroup) on some key characteristics (intergroup differentiation). Good relations are further promoted if the characteristics they see as distinctive to their identities are also recognized as distinctive by other professional groups (mutual intergroup differentiation). The current article considers the incidence of these two factors in neophyte health and social care students and identifies sources of potential intergroup conflict. The findings of the study suggest that all groups of neophyte health and social care students perceived their ingroup as distinct from other professional groups, with the exception of audiology students. The implications of this finding to the relationships between students participating in IPE are discussed. Furthermore, in certain groups there was evidence that students of these groups were seen by others as they saw themselves. This was particularly the case for doctors and social workers and implies that these professions will suffer least from a threat to their group distinctiveness. However, there were instances where characteristics, seen as distinctive by the professional group itself, were not recognized by other groups. For example, physiotherapy students believe that being a team player, and decision making and practical skills were all distinctive characteristics of their profession. However, these features were not recognized as distinctive by other professional groups. The implications of matches/mismatches in how students see themselves, and how they may be viewed by others, are discussed in terms of their impact on student learning experiences and relationships during IPE.

De samenwerking tussen tandartsen en mondhygiënisten: van paradox naar oplossing

“…Wanneer onze omgeving die professionele rol door taakherschikking wijzigt, dient ook de eigen mentale representatie van de professionele rol te veranderen, net als het bijpassende takenpakket. Echter, het veranderen van een professionele identiteit wordt meestal als een bedreiging ervaren en roept dus weerstand op (Hean et al, 2006).…”

Évaluation préliminaire d'un séminaire pilote mixte "médecine/orthophonie", préalable au développement d'un programme interprofessionnel en sciences de la santé

“…Dans la mesure où ces perceptions conditionnent la qualité des relations interprofessionnelles [15] , il paraît essentiel d'évaluer l'impact de notre dispositif d'apprentissage interprofessionnel au regard d'une amé-lioration de ces relations. On sait par exemple que les différents professionnels de santé nourrissent à l'égard des uns et des autres de nombreux de sté-réotypes professionnels et on peut raisonnablement faire l'hypothèse, sur la base de la littérature publiée sur ce sujet [9,[15][16][17][18][19] , que ces stéréotypes se construisent tôt chez les étudiants. Mais, il est égale-ment nécessaire de connaître le point de vue des apprenants sur l'expérience d'apprentissage interprofessionnel elle-même et de son impact potentiel sur leur pratique future.…”

“…Nous n'avons pas trouvé chez nos participants de stéréotypes ou de préjugés négatifs importants des uns à l'égard des autres, contrairement aux ré-sultats d'études antérieures [9,16,17,19] . Toutefois, les informations récoltées nous invitent à penser que les deux groupes d'étudiants stagiaires diffèrent quant à la représentation qu'ils ont de leur future profession.…”

Learning theories and interprofessional education: a user’s guide

“…For example, evaluators who may have focused on IPE evaluation on measurement of stereotype change through quantitative surveys (Carpenter et al 2003;Hean et al 2006) taken in assessment of measurable outcomes in an evaluation. The approach is also in line with a sociopsychological research approach in which the individual is the common unit of analysis.…”

“…If a broader definition of competencies is taken that includes student attitudes and knowledge, then several other instances in which competences have been incorporated into evaluations were found. For example, changes in students' attitudes or stereotypes were measured as an IPE learning outcome in several IPE evaluations (Hind et al 2003;Mandy, Milton & Mandy 2004;Hean et al 2006).…”