Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Initiative

PAPER #10: Interprofessional Education Initiatives in Collaborative Mental Health Care

What is being done to promote collaboration in the education of health professionals?

How do health care providers from different professions learn about one another and how do they learn to collaborate? In response to these questions, changes are being made to the health professional curricula and in the design and implementation of continuing education activities.

On behalf of the Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Initiative, the Centre for Collaborative Health Professional Education conducted online surveys (summer and fall, 2004) on current collaborative mental health care education in Canadian universities and colleges; national and provincial professional/territorial associations; national and provincial/territorial regulatory associations; and mental health advocacy societies and associations. The key purpose of the surveys was to examine the level of collaborative mental health care in interprofessional activities.

Key Findings

• The majority of respondents indicated that no formal interprofessional courses, pre- or post-licensure, for collaborative mental health care existed in their discipline.

• While there has been little action to date, there is considerable current interest in interprofessional education.

• Successful curriculum program elements included bringing theory, ethics and practice together and providing exposure to roles of professionals from other disciplines in mental health care.

• Barriers to the implementation of interprofessional learning included: scheduling, rigid curriculum, lack of reward for faculty, and lack of financial resources.

• Enablers for the implementation of interprofessional learning included: positive attitudes on the part of faculty, students, administrators and external partners; recognition and respect for all professions; internal and external support “champions”; increased communication and collaboration; access to time and resources; and financial support.

The research paper presents survey findings and describes interprofessional courses across the country. It concludes that although interprofessional collaboration in mental health care education opportunities are currently limited, survey respondents identified the importance of interprofessional collaboration, acknowledged the value of the skills that other professions bring and expressed a willingness to develop collaborative working relationships to enhance mental health care.

DOWNLOAD a printer-friendly copy of this summary (PDF - 1 pg)

DOWNLOAD a printer-friendly copy of this paper (PDF - 88 pgs)

You need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader for the purpose of opening and reading PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is absolutely free of charge. If you don't have the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader you can easily download it from the Adobe web-site by clicking on the icon below.