UNE employees publish paper in ‘Health and Interprofessional Practice’ journal
Three University of New England employees recently published a paper in the peer-reviewed journal Health and Interprofessional Practice. The paper, entitled “Evaluation of a Communication Survey and Interprofessional Education Curriculum for Undergraduate Health Profession Students,” was authored by Jan Froehlich, M.S., OTR/L, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, Karen Pardue, Ph.D, R.N., ANEF, associate dean of the Westbrook College of Health Professions and Dawne-Marie Dunbar, MSN/Ed., R.N., CNE, CHSE, director of the Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center.
The paper examines the impact of a novel teaching intervention called “listening partnerships” on undergraduate health profession students’ perceptions of their interpersonal communication abilities. Effective communication is a foundational competency for health profession practice, and thus evaluating pedagogy that supports communication skill development is essential. The study additionally examines the test-retest reliability of a communication instrument developed by Jan Froehlich.
The Westbrook College of Health Professions unique interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum provided context for this 18-month study. Results indicated that students report enhancement of their verbal and non-verbal communication capabilities as a result of this intentional, active learning pedagogical strategy.