Predicting Students' Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education Revised (SPICE-R2)
A variety of factors have been identified in the literature as limiting or facilitating IPE program success (Abu-Rish et al., 2012). Factors such as learner-level compatibility and perceived relevance to students’ future practice may influence student reactions to IPE curricula (Abu-Rish et al., 2012; McGregor et al., 2018), thereby negatively influencing student-centered outcomes of program success. The present research examined factors that may influence students’ perceptions of interprofessional education and collaborative practice within a comprehensive, two-year IPE curriculum involving seven health professions.
A sample of 218 second-year, pre-clinical students from Dental Medicine, Optometry, Osteopathic Medicine, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Podiatric Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine who were enrolled in an interprofessional course (Team Training in Health Care II) completed the Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education Revised (SPICE-R2), measuring their perceptions of interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Students also provided background information about their experience in healthcare and perceptions of future practice.
Results revealed program differences in SPICE-R2 scores, F(6, 211) = 3.64, p = .002, partial eta squared = .09. Veterinary medicine students (M = 36.65, SD = 6.88) scored lower than pharmacy students (M = 43.69, SD = 5.87), p = .004. Program differences also emerged for the subscale scores, with veterinary medicine students scoring lower on the T subscale (interprofessional teamwork and team-based practice) than pharmacy students, p = .005. Veterinary medicine students also scored lower on the R subscale (roles and responsibilities) than pharmacy (p < .001), podiatric medicine (p =.007), and osteopathic medicine students. Pharmacy students’ R subscale scores were higher than those of optometry students, p = .033. In addition, analyses revealed program differences in students’ expectations about working on an interprofessional team in their future clinical practice, X2 (12, N = 218) = 62.71, p < .001, phi = .54. The proportion of veterinary medicine students who expect to work as a member of an interprofessional team was significantly lower (25%) than students of optometry (70.6%), osteopathic medicine (94.1%), pharmacy (83.3%), physical therapy (84.2%), and podiatric medicine (100%), but did not differ from dental medicine (57.7%). Importantly, these expectations were a significant predictor of students’ SPICE-R2 scores, R2 = .06, F(2, 217) = 6.90, p =.001, explaining 24.5% of the variance in SPICE-R2 scores. The results expand the existing literature on factors influencing students’ readiness for interprofessional practice and highlight the importance of future expectations of interprofessional team care on student-centered outcomes of IPE program success.
