Building Collaborative Capacity in Early Intervention Preservice Providers Through Interprofessional Education

Area of Science:

• Early intervention services
• Interprofessional education
• Healthcare professional training

Background:

• Interprofessional practice is crucial in early intervention, supported by policy and research.
• Effective collaboration among diverse professionals enhances service delivery for young children.
• Preservice training is vital for developing collaborative skills in future practitioners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a short interprofessional training on students from speech-language pathology, early intervention/early childhood special education, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.
• To evaluate changes in students' knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes regarding teaming and collaboration.
• To examine student satisfaction and perspectives on the interprofessional training experience.

Main Methods:

• A one-group, pretest-posttest design was employed with 36 preservice students.
• Paired-samples t-tests were used to analyze changes in knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs.
• Descriptive analyses examined student satisfaction and focus group data on training perceptions.

Main Results:

• Preservice students showed significant increases in self-perceived ability, value, and comfort in interprofessional work post-training.
• Students reported enhanced knowledge and appreciation for other disciplines involved in early intervention.
• Interprofessional collaboration was perceived by students as a valuable learning experience.

Conclusions:

• The brief interprofessional training positively impacted students' interprofessional competencies.
• Training fostered a greater understanding and appreciation of collaborative practice in early intervention.
• Findings support the integration of interprofessional training for preservice professionals in early intervention settings.