Health and Disabilities P517 Course: Interprofessional Client Experiences

Grant:

Instructional Development Fund (IDF)

Academic Year:

2023 - 2024 (June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2024)

Funding Requested:

$1,000.00

Project Dates:

Thu, 01/11/2024 - Thu, 04/25/2024

Applicant(s):

serick

Overview of the Project:

The Health and Disabilities course will be offered for the fourth time this coming winter semester. It has undergone revision each year it has been offered, and now is a true interprofessional experiential learning offering that incorporates disability cultural awareness by providing health science students the opportunity to interact directly with persons with disabilities to learn of their lived experiences navigating their healthcare needs. During the course, interprofessional teams of students interview a client that has a physical, intellectual, and sensory disability. This coming year we are are scaling up our enrollment in the course and request monies to support these client meetings in terms of providing interpreters for clients that have a sensory (hearing) disability as well as paying clients an honorarium.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

The specific learning objectives include

1.) Students will develop general knowledge related to health and disability,

2.) Students will develop disability cultural awareness,

3.) Students will demonstrate appropriate interprofessional communication with healthcare team members and clients with a disability; and

4.) Students will engage as a member of an interprofessional team and demonstrate professional behaviors during a consultation with a client with a disability.

Providing students with an authentic learning experience allows students to achieve these learning objectives with a greater depth and breadth compared to didactic instruction and simulated patient cases.

Project Achievements:

Eighty-two students from Pharmacy, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy UM programs participated in the course. Thirty persons from the community who have disabilities were interviewed by the interprofessional teams during the semester. Preliminary analysis of data collected about student attitudes towards persons with disabilities and confidence in working with persons with disabilities showed positive growth. Students overwhelmingly would recommend this course to other students, as well as finding the IP component a positive influence on them working as a team member in their future professional experiences as well as their interactions with persons with disabilities.

This course is unique in our curriculum, providing students a chance to learn of the lived experiences of persons with disabilities while working as a team member on the interprofessional teams.

Continuation:

Yes, the plan is to continue offering the course during the winter semester, indefinitely.

Dissemination:

Findings from a number of analyses of data collected during this year's course (2024) will be submitted to interprofessional research organizations for presentation, as well as a disability-related organization.

Advice to your Colleagues:

Successes include working with community advocacy agencies to further develop the course and IP experiences; the recruitment of excited clients to interact with our students; the clearly demonstrated advancement in student's understanding and valuing the lived experiences of persons with disabilities.

Challenges include the amount of work required to coordinate the course and activities; finding funding to sustain the financial needs of the course, which include paying for ASL interpreters for some of the client meetings.

PRINTER VERSION

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