Dissecting first-year students' perceptions of health profession groups: Potential barriers to interprofessional education

BACKGROUND: Previous research has shown that health profession students enter interprofessional education (IPE) programs with negative perceptions of health disciplines other than their own, which could serve as possible barriers to engagement with interprofessional principles. Yet, past studies have not fully dissected these perceptions, nor have they examined how these perceptions may contrast with how students view their own future profession. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A total of 638 students from six different health profession training programs completed surveys assessing their perceptions/stereotypes of their own and other health professions. ANOVA and MANCOVA analyses showed a high degree of variability in how each profession is perceived by the students, but that the students, regardless of discipline (except medical students), rated their own profession the highest on almost every attribute listed. CONCLUSIONS: The data provide evidence for the tenets of Social Identity Theory raised in the relevant literature. The authors also suggest that the lack of adequately formulated "professional-in-training" identity, as well as the formidability of anticipatory socialization, help to foster and perpetuate these stereotypes and that IPE programs have the potential to exacerbate these negative perceptions.