Working together or apart? Impact of interprofessional education on collaborative competencies of applied behavior analysis and occupational therapy practitioners

ABSTRACT

Applied behavior analysis and occupational therapy practitioners uniquely serve neurodivergent individuals, despite interprofessional contention. While some qualitative research exists, there is a need for quantitative and mixed-methods evaluation of evidence-based strategies to improve the collaboration between occupational therapy practitioners and applied behavioral analysis professionals. This study aimed to improve collaboration for enhanced outcomes between individuals from these two professions. This program assessed change in collaborative competencies of occupational therapy and applied behavior analysis professionals, following virtual interprofessional education initiative provided by a licensed certificant from each profession. Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey, open-ended survey questions and recorded focus group were used to evaluate program impacts. Quantitative results were analyzed using paired-sample t-tests and revealed statistically significant increases in participants’ whole scores (p<.05). Qualitative analysis revealed the value of practical, problem-based learning. This study demonstrated the potentiality of virtual interprofessional education, question-answer dialogue, and actionable strategies. Future studies can increase sample size and implement longer-term models.

KEYWORDS:

• Interprofessional collaboration
• interprofessional education
• problem-based learning
• applied behavior analysis
• occupational therapy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical Statement

This research was conducted as part of an approved university-based IRB study in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.