Quality of contact counts: The development of interprofessional identity in first year students

Little is known about how nursing and other healthcare students develop professional and interprofessional identities.

This study a) measures changes in students' professional and interprofessional identities between the start and end of a faculty-wide interprofessional first year programme, and b) identifies factors influencing interprofessional identity strength at the end of the programme.

One hundred and eight first year nursing, medicine and allied health students.

A single-group pre-post-test design was used. Students completed an online survey at the start and end of the year-long programme. The survey comprised measures of professional and interprofessional identity, stereotypes, contact and demographics. The same survey was used twice.

There was a small decline in professional identity and a large decline in interprofessional identity across the year. Nursing students, the only group involved in clinical practicums, were exempt from the large fall in interprofessional identity. Quality of contact with students from other professions and autostereotypes about own profession were predictors of interprofessional identity strength at the end of the programme, consistent with intergroup contact theory.

Introductory interprofessional education programmes should include opportunities for quality contact with students from other professions, and for students to develop a clear understanding of their own profession.