Feasibility of a Novel Rubric for Building the Capacity of Healthcare Professionals to Engage in Diverse Teams: A Pilot Study.

Aims: Diverse teams can function at the highest levels, producing innovative, impactful outcomes. However, teams must learn to work through conflict that can coexist with diverse perspectives. While teamwork evaluation rubrics exist, there is a shortage of curricula offering early healthcare students tools, practice, and structured feedback toward diverse teamwork preparation. This pilot study aimed to assess feasibility of a novel educational rubric.

Methods: Our multidisciplinary team synthesized 3 validated rubrics to develop a Diverse Teams Rubric (DTR). We investigated the DTR through a retrospective survey of doctoral physical therapy (DPT) students who had recently completed a team-based course. The survey included the 8-item DTR and 14 questions about DTR feasibility.

Results: Of 42 respondents, 89% endorsed the DTR's usefulness in evaluating team effectiveness. 83% reported their team was diverse and 36% reported experiencing microaggressions within past teams. Regarding the DTR, the microaggressions item ("Team effectively managed microaggressions.") received the lowest average score.

Conclusion: Preliminary findings suggest DPT students find the DTR accessible and useful in promoting team skills within diverse group-learning settings. Students frequently encounter microaggressions in teams and responses suggest increased education is warranted. Next steps include prospective DTR assessment and validation, with particular attention to psychological safety.