Bourdieu and interprofessional education: what’s the relevance?

ABSTRACT

Interprofessional education (IPE) is perceived to be one strategy to reduce professional compartmentalisation and improve collaborative practices. The unequal power relations existing between the various professions who need to collaborate for IPE remains largely unexamined and it is only in recent years that sociological theories have been employed within the interprofessional field. This paper uses selected findings from an exploratory case study into IPE conducted at the University of Malta and then examines these findings from a Bourdieusian perspective. The first part of this paper introduces the breath of theoretical perspectives employed for IPE and then goes on to provide an overview of Bourdieu’s theories of social practices. The second part outlines the context of this case study and presents selected findings. The third section discusses how these findings were examined using Bourdieu’s concepts helping us demystify the various ways in which health care professions worked and interacted, and how this all made sense within a wider societal context. It also highlights the relevance of taking into account Bourdieu’s concepts during the development of IPE.

KEYWORDS:

• Bourdieu’s concepts of field
• habitus
• capital and doxa
• interprofessional education
• power
• conflict

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr. Marjorie Bonello (Primary author): Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta. Her main interests are interprofessional education theory, policy and practice, education in practice across the health professions and qualitative methodologies. She is also interested in the potential impact of national culture on innovation in health professional education, especially in European mini-states and other nations.

Dr.Jon Wright: Principal Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton.

Dr. Jane Morris: Deputy Head of School of Health Sciences, School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton, UK; Chair, National Association of Educators in Practice (NAEP).

Professor Gaynor Sadlo: Professor of Occupational Science (retired), School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton, UK.

Notes

1 Whilst a review of these theories is beyond the scope of this paper, the interested reader is invited to look at Adams et al. (2006), Barr et al. (2005); Barr 2013, Hean, Craddock, and O’Halloran (2009), Hean et al. (2012), Reeves et al. (2007) and Reeves and Hean (2013) for detailed accounts.

2 Professional education for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and social work is undertaken by other faculties.

3 These participant academics had a practising health professional background and would have moved to academia over the years.

4 Sixty-seven letters were send to all eligible newly qualified professionals however only eight positive responses were received. On the day of the focus group, 2 participants cancelled their participation due to unforeseen circumstances.

5 Prestige, titles, reputations and knowing and being known to the right people could be real concerns for inhabitants living in a small geographical island, such as Malta.