Stereotypes in health professional students – perspectives for research about interprofessional learning, teaching and working / Stereotype von Lernenden in den Gesundheitsprofessionen – Perspektiven für die Forschung zum interprofessionellen Lernen, Lehren und Arbeiten

Abstract

Background:As the scientific discourse about interprofessional learning, teaching, and practice has been gaining momentum in recent years, German-speaking countries still have a considerable amount of catching up to do compared with other countries. The discourse about stereotypes and their effects may serve as an example in this respect. Objective: We set out to establish which theoretical and methodological approaches have been used in research on stereotypes endorsed by health professions students and which empirical findings are currently available on the effects of such stereotypes on interprofessional learning, teaching and practice. The main goal was to summarize the current research, to point out research desiderata and identify starting points for further research about this topic. Methods: A broad narrative review of English and German literature was performed. Results were prepared, reflected and descriptive and analytical summarized. Results: International research on stereotypes of health professions students in the interprofessional discourse is characterized by social-psychological theoretical and quantitative-empirical methodological approaches. Heterogeneous study designs limit the comparability and generalizability of current study findings. Answers to questions of whether and how stereotypes can be influenced through interprofessional learning, teaching, and practice were inconsistent in the literature. Conclusion: Research findings on stereotypes endorsed by health professions students provided interesting theoretical and empirical perspectives for the debate surrounding interprofessional learning, teaching, and practice. These perspectives should be used to guide and stimulate further research on this topic in German-speaking countries.Stereotypes -students -health professional -interprofessional education -empirical research -review Keywords Abstract

Stereotypes of experienced health professionals in an interprofessional context: results from a cross-sectional survey in Germany

“…Though much later than Canada (Paradis & Reeves, 2013), the UK (Barr, 2015) or Sweden (Barr, 2015), for example, the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) have also started a number of IPE initiatives, predominantly in the context of medical faculties (Ewers & Walkenhorst, 2019). Whether the development of IPE in these countries can be based on international experiences and empirical research is an open question due to the profound structural differences in the education and healthcare systems (Wild & Ewers, 2017). The healthcare system in Germany, for example, is still characterized by traditional hierarchies, with doctors holding structural power over most of the other health professionals (Busse & Blümel, 2014;;Zander-Jentsch et al, 2019).…”