Understanding attitude of health care professional teachers toward interprofessional health care collaboration and education in a Southeast Asian country

Figures & data

Table 1 Factor loading of each item

	Loadings
	I	II	III	IV
Subscales	α=0.951	α=0.833	α=0.717	α=0.617
Attitude toward IPE and its implementation
Q15 Interprofessional learning will help students think positively about other health care professionals	0.451
Q17 Interprofessional learning before qualification will help health professional students to become better team workers	0.562
Q18 Patients would ultimately benefit if health care students worked together to solve patients’ problems	0.473
Q19 Students in my professional group would benefit from working on small-group projects with other health care students	0.730
Q20 Communication skills should be learned with integrated classes of health care students	0.588
Q21 Interprofessional learning will help to clarify the nature of patient problems for students	0.722
Q23 Learning with students in other health professional schools helps undergraduates to become more effective members of the health care team	0.834
Q24 Interprofessional learning among health care students will increase their ability to understand clinical problems	0.712
Q25 Interprofessional learning will help students to understand their own professional limitation	0.723
Q26 For small-group learning to work, students need to trust and respect each other	0.429
Q27 Interprofessional learning among health professional students will help them to communicate better with patients and other professionals	0.778
Q28 Team-working skills are essential for all health care students to learn	0.422
Q29 Learning between health care students before qualification would improve working relationships after qualification	0.659
Q30 Interprofessional learning utilizes resources better	0.501
Q31 It is important for academic health center campuses to provide interprofessional teaching opportunities	0.713
Q32 Interprofessional learning should be a goal of this campus	0.746
Q33 Students like courses taught by faculty from other academic departments	0.684
Q34 Students like courses that include students from other academic departments	0.633
Q35 Faculty should be encouraged to participate in interprofessional courses	0.825
Q36 Faculty like teaching to students in other academic departments	0.573
Q37 Faculty like teaching with faculty from other academic departments	0.581
Q39 Interprofessional efforts require support from campus administration	0.641
Attitude toward interprofessional health care
Q1 Patients/clients receiving interprofessional care are more likely than others to be treated as a whole person		0.652
Q3 The give and take among team members help them make better patient/client care decisions		0.684
Q4 The interprofessional approach makes the delivery of care more efficient		0.643
Q5 Developing patient/client care plan with other team members avoids errors in delivering care		0.792
Q7 Working in an interprofessional environment keeps most health professionals enthusiastic and interested in their jobs		0.617
Q8 The interprofessional approach improves the quality of care to patients/clients		0.612
Q11 The interprofessional approach permits health professionals to meet the needs of both family caregivers and patients		0.630
Q12 Having to report observations to a team helps team members better understand the work of other health professionals		0.529
Q13 Hospital patients who receive interprofessional team care are better prepared for discharge than other patients		0.585
Q14 The team meetings foster communication among members from different professions or disciplines		0.468
Attitude toward negative views of interprofessional health care practice and education
Q2 Developing an interprofessional patient/client care plan is excessively time consuminga			0.544
Q6 Working in an interprofessional manner unnecessarily complicates things most of the timea			0.531
Q9 In most instances, the time required for interprofessional consultations could be better spent in other waysa			0.666
Q16 Clinical problem-solving can only be learned effectively when students are taught within their individual department/schoola			0.747
Q22 It is not necessary for undergraduate health care students to learn togethera			0.766
Attitude toward negative views of campus-based IPE implementation
Q38 Interprofessional efforts weaken course contenta				0.510
Q40 Interprofessional courses are logistically difficulta				0.682
Q42 Accreditation requirements limit interprofessional efforta				0.585

Notes:

a Items Q2, Q6, Q9, Q16, Q22, Q38, Q40, and Q42 are reverse-scored. α represents alpha Cronbach.

Abbreviation: IPE, interprofessional education.

Table 2 Demographic characteristics of respondents

	Midwifery		Nurse		Dentistry		Medical
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Gender
Male	0	0	99	44.0	17	27.4	75	45.7
Female	100	100	126	56.0	45	72.6	88	54.3
Level of education
Assistant Bachelor	4	4	70	31.1	9	14.5	0	0
Bachelor	59	59	68	30.2	23	37.1	48	29.6
Master/clinician	37	37	85	37.8	24	38.7	105	64.8
PhD	0	0	2	0.9	6	9.7	9	5.6
Academic title
Has not got any	79	79	171	76.0	35	56.5	118	72.8
Assistant Lecturer	15	15	43	19.1	6	9.7	29	17.9
Senior Lecturer	6	6	11	4.9	14	22.6	8	4.9
Associate Professor	0	0	0	0	7	11.2	7	4.4
Professor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Length of employment
0–5 years	48	48	125	55.6	33	53.2	63	38.9
6–10 years	26	26	55	24.4	10	16.1	50	30.9
11–15 years	24	24	26	11.6	6	9.7	20	12.3
16–20 years	1	1	15	6.7	1	1.6	14	8.6
21–25 years	1	1	2	0.9	8	12.9	3	1.9
26–30 years	0	0	1	0.4	1	1.6	7	4.3
31 +	0	0	1	0.4	3	4.8	5	3.1
Collaborate with other health care professional in health care practice
Yes	37	37	106	47.1	36	58.1	130	80.2
No	63	63	119	52.9	26	41.9	32	19.8
Institution
Ministry of Health	43	43	101	44.9	18	29.0	15	9.3
Ministry of Higher Education	57	57	124	55.1	44	71.0	149	90.7
Teaching method at school
Conventional teacher centered	68	68	120	53.3	27	43.5	16	9.9
PBL	32	32	105	46.7	55	56.5	146	90.1

Abbreviation: PBL, problem-based learning.

Table 3 Median and mean rank difference of the total ATIHC&E score

	Total ATIHC&E score
	Median	P-value
Profession
Midwife	3.93	0.012a
Nurse	3.95
Dentist	3.92
Medical doctor	3.88
Gender
Male	3.88	0.132
Female	3.93
Level of education
Assistant Bachelor	3.83	0.000a
Bachelor	3.88
Master/clinician	4.09
PhD	3.88
Academic title
Has not got any	3.91	0.001a
Assistant Lecturer	4.00
Senior Lecturer	4.19
Associate Professor	3.79
Professor	0
Length of employment
0–5 years	3.90	0.000a
6–10 years	3.90
11–15 years	4.24
16–20 years	3.86
21–25 years	3.96
26–30 years	3.64
31 +	3.64
Work collaboratively as health care team
No	3.88	0.000b
Yes	4.07
Institution
Ministry of Health	3.81	0.000b
Ministry of Higher Education	4.02
Teaching method at school
Conventional teacher centered	4.09	0.000b
PBL	3.90

Notes:

a Significant based on Kruskal–Wallis test;

b significant based on Mann–Whitney U test.

Abbreviations: ATIHC&E, Attitude toward Interprofessional Health Care Collaboration and Education; PBL, problem-based learning.

Table 4 Mean difference of each item

Attitude toward IPE and its implementation	Midwifery	Nursing	Dentistry	Medical	P-Value
Q15 Interprofessional learning will help students think positively about other health care professionals	4.35±0.71	4.40±0.66	4.50±0.53	4.20±0.64	0.031
Q17 Interprofessional learning before qualification will help health professional students to become better team workers	4.23±0.75	4.29±0.61	4.25±0.80	4.06±0.86	0.017
Q18 Patients would ultimately benefit if health care students worked together to solve patients’ problems	4.15±0.72	4.26±0.68	4.31±0.58	4.06±0.72	0.027
Q19 Students in my professional group would benefit from working on small-group projects with other health care students	4.19±0.82	4.38±0.61	4.18±0.75	3.87±0.91	0.000
Q20 Communication skills should be learned with integrated classes of health care students	3.51±1.10	4.03±0.8	3.88±0.87	3.73±0.91	0.000
Q21 Interprofessional learning will help to clarify the nature of patient problems for students	3.98±0.76	4.24±0.63	4.09±0.71	3.73±0.95	0.000
Q23 Learning with students in other health professional schools helps undergraduates to become more effective members of a health care team	4.16±0.66	4.35±0.56	4.14±0.62	4.00±0.81	0.000
Q24 Interprofessional learning among health care students will increase their ability to understand clinical problems	4.30±0.54	4.26±0.6	4.34±0.57	4.09±0.7	0.013
Q25 Interprofessional learning will help students to understand their own professional limitation	4.12±0.6	4.25±0.51	4.05±0.77	3.96±0.78	0.000
Q26 For small-group learning to work, students need to trust and respect each other	4.44±0.49	4.44±0.62	4.50±0.50	4.30±0.59	0.000
Q27 Interprofessional learning among health professional students will help them to communicate better with patients and other professionals	4.32±0.66	4.46±0.59	4.29±0.49	4.07±0.70	0.000
Q28 Team-working skills are essential for all health care students to learn	4.37±0.59	4.43±0.58	4.43±0.59	4.22±0.61	0.004
Q29 Learning between health care students before qualification would improve working relationships after qualification	4.27±0.77	4.39±0.57	4.26±0.65	4.04±0.72	0.000
Q30 Interprofessional learning utilizes resources better	4.47±0.61	4.28±0.59	4.32±0.56	4.14±0.74	0.001
Q31 It is important for academic health center campuses to provide interprofessional teaching opportunities	4.23±0.60	4.34±0.63	4.32±0.50	4.06±0.81	0.001
Q32 Interprofessional learning should be a goal of this campus	4.01±0.73	4.09±0.61	3.79±0.85	3.91±0.89	0.014
Q33 Students like courses taught by faculty from other academic departments	3.83±0.79	4.02±0.68	3.95±0.68	3.80±0.77	0.022
Q34 Students like courses that include students from other academic departments	4.07±0.65	4.19±0.60	4.02±0.61	3.82±0.73	0.000
Q35 Faculty should be encourage to participate in interprofessional courses	4.28±0.62	4.28±0.55	4.29±0.55	3.99±0.79	0.000
Q36 Faculty like teaching to students in other academic departments	3.59±0.92	3.80±0.76	3.74±0.74	3.77±0.76	0.166
Q37 Faculty like teaching with faculty from other academic departments	3.72±0.87	3.94±0.72	3.82±0.71	3.79±0.75	0.056
Q39 Interprofessional efforts require support from campus administration	4.16±0.70	4.23±0.63	4.19±0.59	4.02±0.76	0.019
Attitude toward interprofessional health care
Q1 Patients/clients receiving interprofessional care are more likely than others to be treated as a whole person	4.50±0.50	4.60±0.54	4.47±0.56	4.52±0.60	0.186
Q3 The give and take among team members help them make better patient/client care decisions	4.50±0.73	4.39±0.75	4.50±0.56	4.38±0.73	0.409
Q4 The interprofessional approach makes the delivery of care more efficient	4.19±0.80	4.27±0.65	4.19±0.64	4.07±0.83	0.083
Q5 Developing patient/client care plan with other team members avoids errors in delivering care	4.27±0.71	4.34±0.60	4.40±0.55	4.28±0.68	0.459
Q7 Working in an interprofessional environment keeps most health	3.94±0.78	4.22±0.58	4.17±0.66	4.08±0.74	0.006
Q8 The interprofessional approach improves the quality of care to patients/clients	4.38±0.61	4.40±0.53	4.37±0.52	4.28±0.77	0.260
Q11 The interprofessional approach permits health professionals to meet the needs of both family caregivers and patients	3.59±0.90	3.99±0.66	3.85±0.76	3.90±0.77	0.000
Q12 Having to report observations to a team helps team members better understand the work of other health professionals	4.07±0.71	4.24±0.57	4.27±0.51	4.08±0.69	0.016
Q13 Hospital patients who receive interprofessional team care are better prepared for discharge than other patients	3.80±0.81	4.29±0.67	4.05±0.66	3.99±0.76	0.000
Q14 The team meetings foster communication among members from different professions or disciplines	4.31±0.63	4.39±0.62	4.45±0.53	4.20±0.65	0.031
Attitude toward negative views of interprofessional health care practice and education
Q2 Developing an interprofessional patient/client care plan is excessively time consuminga	3.00±1.08	3.00±1.20	3.04±1.07	3.09±1.14	0.869
Q6 Working in an interprofessional manner unnecessarily complicates things most of the timea	2.82±1.14	3.08±1.10	2.37±0.99	2.77±1.18	0.000
Q9 In most instances, the time required for interprofessional consultations could be better spent in other waysa	3.32±1.08	3.41±1.19	3.19±1.09	3.33±1.04	0.566
Q16 Clinical problem-solving can only be learned effectively when students are taught within their individual department/schoola	3.27±0.98	3.10±1.22	3.11±1.10	3.36±1.00	0.123
Q22 It is not necessary for undergraduate health care students to learn togethera	3.38±1.07	3.43±1.20	3.56±1.06	3.47±1.04	0.766
Attitude toward negative views of campus-based IPE implementation
Q38 Interprofessional efforts weaken course contenta	3.67±0.98	3.40±0.99	3.38±0.92	3.39±0.96	0.094
Q40 Interprofessional courses are logistically difficulta	3.12±1.10	4.16±0.71	4.20±0.62	3.95±0.83	0.133
Q42 Accreditation requirements limit interprofessional efforta	3.54±0.93	3.17±1.05	3.24±1.06	3.33±0.98	0.210

Notes:

a Items Q2, Q6, Q9, Q16, Q22, Q38, Q40, and Q42 are reverse-scored.

Abbreviation: IPE, interprofessional education,

Table 5 Demographic characteristics of FG and interview participants

	Midwifery		Nurse		Dentistry		Medical
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Gender
Male	0	0	3	50.0	3	50.0	3	30.0
Female	7	100	3	50.0	3	50.0	7	70.0
Age, years
20–30	3	42.9	2	33.3	2	33.3	4	40.0
31–40	1	14.3	4	66.7	1	16.7	3	30.0
41–50	3	42.9	0	0	2	33.3	0	0
51 and more	0	0	0	0	1	16.7	3	30.0
Level of education
Bachelor	0	0	0	0	1	16.7	5	50.0
Master/clinician	7	100	6	100	5	83.3	2	20.0
PhD	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	30.0
Academic title
Has not got any	4	57.1	1	16.7	3	50	7	70.0
Assistant Lecturer	2	28.6	5	83.3	2	33.3	2	20.0
Senior Lecturer	1	14.3	0	0	0	0	2	20.0
Associate Professor	0	0	0	0	1	16.7	1	10.0
Professor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Length of employment
1–15 years	4	57.1	6	100	5	83.0	8	80.0
>15 years	3	28.6	0	0	1	7.0	2	20.0
Involved/runs health care practice
Yes	3	42.9	4	66.7	5	83.3	9	90.0
No	4	57.1	2	33.3	1	16.7	1	10.0
Collaboration with other health care professionals in health care practice
Yes	3	42.9	4	66.7	5	83.3	4	40.0
No	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	50.0
Is not involved in health care practice	4	57.1	2	33.3	1	16.7	1	10.0

Abbreviation: FG, focus group.