Does the readiness for interprofessional education reflect students' dominance orientation and professional commitment? Evidence from a sample of nursing students

Background: Interprofessional education is an important factor in facilitating subsequent interprofessional collaboration. Therefore, implementing this teaching strategy is important to increase the chances that future professionals will work effectively together. Group membership, status and the power differential among professional groups are factors that can hinder both interprofessional education and collaboration. From a psychosocial point of view, interprofessional education may be described as an intergroup context in which members of different status groups interact. It involves at least two main psychosocial processes: commitment to the profession and acceptance or challenge of interprofessional hierarchy. Objectives: The purpose of this research was to analyse the effects of professional commitment and social dominance orientation on attitudes toward interprofessional education. Design: A cross-sectional design was conducted. Participants: A total of 137 nursing science students from an Italian university were enrolled in this research. Methods: Participants were surveyed using a questionnaire measuring attitudes toward interprofessional education, professional commitment and social dominance orientation. Results: The more that students showed social dominance orientation, the less they were willing to engage in interprofessional education. This effect was qualified by an interaction with professional commitment. When professional commitment was higher, social dominance orientation was weakly related to attitude toward interprofessional learning. Conclusions: These results suggest that there is a belief that professional hierarchy is deserved and that this may decrease a nursing student's engagement in interprofessional education; however, this may be contrasted by an increased professional commitment.