Interprofessional education: the attitude among students of health science bachelor's degree programmes at universities of applied sciences in Austria / Interprofessionelle Ausbildung: Die Einstellung der Studierenden gesundheitswissenschaftlicher Bachelor-Studiengänge an österreichischen Fachhochschulen

Introduction

Interprofessional collaboration is a strategy to meet the challenges of increasing complexity in the health system. The basis for cooperation in professional life must already be established in the context of interprofessional education (IPE). Students’ attitude towards IPE is a crucial factor in the development of interprofessional competences.

The aim of this study is to investigate the attitude towards interprofessional education among students of health science bachelor's degree programmes at selected universities of applied sciences in Austria.

Method

An empirical, quantitative, non-experimental approach in the form of a cross-sectional study was chosen, with the survey being carried out online using the questionnaire University of the West of England Interprofessional Questionnaire © (Pollard et al., 2004) in its German translation von Mahler et al. (2017), as a self-assessment measuring instrument to investigate the students’ attitude towards communication and teamwork, interprofessional learning and interprofessional interaction. The data evaluation was both descriptive and analytical.

Results

505 students from nine different health science degree programmes participated in the survey. 79 % (n = 504) rate their communication and teamwork skills positively and 76.6 % (n = 505) have a positive attitude towards interprofessional learning. However, only 8 % (n = 396) have a positive opinion on interprofessional interaction. In the group comparisons, significant differences are observed between the various study programmes, semesters of study and previous professional experience.

Conclusion

The knowledge of the attitude towards IPE should be considered when designing interprofessional activities during the course of studies in order to influence the students’ attitude positively.