Exploring Cross-Cultural and Interprofessional Faculty Development: Perspectives from Vietnamese Health Professions...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Professions Education
• Cross-cultural Studies

Background:

• Faculty development (FD) is crucial in health professions education.
• Impact in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is often hindered by cultural and contextual factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how Vietnamese health professions faculty engaged with and applied learning from a cross-cultural, interprofessional FD certificate program.
• To identify barriers and facilitators to the application of FD principles in a Vietnamese context.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study using semistructured interviews with 10 Vietnamese faculty.
• Thematic analysis of interview transcripts, guided by Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT).

Main Results:

• Cultural norms (hierarchy, conflict avoidance) and language barriers limited engagement.
• Workloads, structural constraints, and lack of local examples impeded application of educational theory.
• Interprofessional education (IPE) faced challenges due to role ambiguity and institutional support.

Conclusions:

• Cross-cultural and interprofessional FD can enhance professional growth but needs system-level alignment in LMICs.
• Programs must incorporate cultural humility, psychological safety, and locally relevant content.
• Layered learning designs are recommended to balance interprofessional breadth and profession-specific depth.