Interprofessional Education and Practice Guide No. 3: Evaluating interprofessional education

Abstract

We have witnessed an ongoing increase in the publication of evaluation work aimed at measuring the processes and outcomes related to a range of interprofessional education (IPE) activities and initiatives. Systematic reviews of IPE have, however, suggested that while the quality of evaluation studies is improving, there continues to be a number of empirical weaknesses with this work. In an effort to enhance the quality of IPE evaluation studies, this guide provides a series of ideas and suggestions about how to undertake a robust evaluation of an IPE event. The guide presents a series of key lessons for colleagues to help them undertake a good quality IPE evaluation, covering a range of methodological, practical and ethical issues. These include: the formation of evaluation questions, use of evaluation models and theoretical perspectives, advice about the selection of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods evaluation designs, managing evaluation resources, and ideas about disseminating evaluation results to the broader IPE community. It is anticipated that this guide will assist IPE colleagues in undertaking high-quality evaluation in order to provide valuable evidence for different stakeholders, and also help inform the scholarly knowledge for the interprofessional field.

• Evaluation
• interprofessional education
• interprofessional learning
• mixed methods
• qualitative methods
• quantitative methods

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the writing and content of this paper.

Notes

1. Mindful of the interchangeable use of the terms evaluation and assessment in the literature, in this guide we define evaluation as the processes of gathering evidence to enable judgement of effectiveness and value of an educational activity. As such, this term is regarded differently to assessment, which we see as the process of judging the extent to which an individual has achieved the learning outcomes of their educational activity.

2. Aware of the debates around differing definitions of evaluation and research (e.g. Levin-Rozalis, 2003), our view is that evaluation is as a form of empirical activity which uses research methodology and methods in order to investigate real world issues in a timely and practical manner.