Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-1-2025
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Nearly 50% of Americans have at least one chronic illness. Preparing future healthcare providers for interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) and person-centred care through community-based interprofessional education (IPE) can improve outcomes for this growing population. Partial programme theories predict that patients' participation as teachers in health professions education contributes to students' development of patient-centredness. Role theory asserts that behaviours are shaped by assigned roles; therefore, community members with chronic illness who assume roles of health mentors in an IPE curriculum are predicted to teach students about their patient experiences. Yet, this teaching outcome and the lessons health mentors teach in semi-structured student-led meetings are underexplored.
GOALS: This project explored what community members with chronic conditions teach future healthcare professionals about their conditions/disabilities and healthcare access and quality in a health mentors IPE programme.
METHODS: Thirty-eight health mentors participated in focus groups and were surveyed for demographic information. Directed content analysis was performed, drawing on prior research, programme theory and core competencies in IPCP and disability.
RESULTS: Four themes were identified related to barriers in accessing healthcare: environmental factors, insurance, cost and time. Themes regarding chronic conditions, disabilities or healthcare quality included education about the patient journey, communication, person-centred care, team collaboration, advocacy, empathy, impact of providers' words and shared decision-making.
CONCLUSION: Partial programme theories suggest these lessons are especially impactful when delivered by patients. Aligned with role theory, our findings suggest that clinical teachers can rely on health mentors to share key lessons with students within a semistructured student-led context.
Recommended Citation
White, Rachel; Brucato, Maria; King, Amber; Mitchell, Anne B.; and Ankam, Nethra S., "What Community Members With Chronic Illness Teach Future Healthcare Professionals in a Longitudinal Interprofessional Education Program: A Focus Group Study" (2025). Department of Medicine Faculty Papers. Paper 508.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/medfp/508
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PubMed ID
40817452
Language
English
Included in
Health Services Administration Commons, Medical Education Commons, Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Commons
Comments
This article is the author’s final published version in Clinical Teacher, Volume 22, Issue 5, 2025, Article number e70181.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.70181. Copyright 2025 The Author(s).