Development of client-centredness: Perceptions of interprofessional health care students.

Abstract

Background: Health care professionals who provide high-quality care engage in interprofessional collaborative practice. Engaging collaboratively requires that educators ensure health care students have well-developed client-centred knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. Limited research exists to help educators understand how to support health care students' client-centred development.

Purpose: This study aimed to use storytelling and reflection to advance understanding of client-centredness development from the perspective of prelicensure health care students.

Method: In this interpretive description study, 6 students from various health disciplines engaged in 3 focus group sessions over 5 months to discuss client-centred experiences. Digital stories were introduced to stimulate discussion. Focus group data were inductively analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: Four themes related to client-centred development emerged: 1) building on existing professional knowledge; 2) internalizing client-centredness as an evolving process; 3) sharing stories; and 4) reflecting: a critical process.

Discussion: Consistent with the limited evidence, employing storytelling and reflection in an interprofessional education setting enabled students to explore the concept of client-centredness in a way that enriched the discussion and their perceptions.

Conclusion: Health care students benefit from storytelling and open discussion opportunities to learn with, from, and about each other in an interprofessional education context as they internalize client-centredness and move beyond their professional education programs' knowledge and skill-based foundations.