Understanding Interprofessional Perceptions and Experiences: An Investigation of Professional Counselors and Allied Health Professionals

INTRODUCTION Interprofessional collaboration is essential to improve coordination, communication, quality, and safety of patient care. Interprofessional perception is an important variable in interprofessional collaboration as it can impact attitudes, ability to successfully engage in interprofessionalism, and willingness to engage. The study focuses on understanding perceptions and experiences of interprofessional collaboration of professional counselors and other allied health professionals. METHODS Participants were recruited online and through snowball sampling. The survey was taken by a diverse sample of healthcare professionals. The survey items consisted of demographic information, the 18 item Interprofessional Education Perception Scale (IEPS), and the 16 item individual construct subscale for the Perception of Interprofessional Collaboration Model Questionnaire (PINCOM-Q). Chi-Square and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the groups on the IEPS and the PINCOM-Q. RESULTS Results suggested that 31% of professional counselors had previous interprofessional education (IPE) and 41.4% reported that they had engaged in interprofessional clinical experience, and the majority of counselors have positive perceptions of interprofessional collaboration. Results from the ANOVA indicated that counselors have similar professional perceptions as other behavioral health professionals, however their professional beliefs are different from that of other allied health professionals. CONCLUSION Professional counselors are gaining experiences with interprofessionalism and seem to have positive perceptions of interprofessional collaboration. It is thought that the inclusion of professional counselors on interprofessional teams will not only affect the teams positively but also the clients that are served