Longitudinal Outcomes of a Brief Interprofessional Educational Experience Among Health Services Administration and Occupational Therapy Graduates

Renee A. Zucchero, Xavier University - Cincinnati
Edmond Hooker, Xavier University - Cincinnati
Valerie A. Hill

Abstract

There is limited research about the long-term effects of interprofessional education (IPE); few studies include health services administration (HSA) and occupational therapy (OT) students. Hence, the current study evaluated the long-term effects of IPE on the attitudes of HSA and OT graduates about healthcare teams. Graduate HSA and OT students participated with students from other healthcare disciplines in a brief symposium focused on an interprofessional approach to treating persons with dementia. Students completed the Attitudes Toward Health Care Teams Scale (ATHCTS; Heinemann et al., 1999) before and immediately after the symposium. HSA and OT alumni completed the ATHCTS at 9 or 21 months after the symposium. Fifty-three participants fully completed the ATHCTS at each data collection point. A series of one-way repeated measures ANOVAs indicated there was a significant effect for time for the ATHCTS total and sub-scale scores. A two-way between-groups ANOVA explored the impact of gender, age, and major on ATHCTS scores at long-term follow-up. There were no statistically significant interaction effects; however, there was a statistically significant main effect for major.