Abstract
This banded dissertation proposed the use of mutual aid for teaching interprofessional education in healthcare. The structure of this dissertation includes seven sections: introduction, conceptual framework, discussion, implications, and three scholarly products. The first scholarly product was a phenomenological qualitative study. The research question sought to explore faculty perceptions of the most effective approach for teaching interprofessional education. Nine faculty members, who taught at least one graduate or undergraduate interprofessional activity, participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings suggested teaching approaches to interprofessional education should focus on the planning, teaching, and evaluation processes. The second scholarly product was a conceptual paper introducing a teaching model for interprofessional education. The model, called the Mutual Aid Conceptual Model (MACM), was designed using the mutual aid processes from ecology theory. The MACM was designed to provide a practical interdisciplinary approach for teaching collaboration, cooperation, and communication skills with interprofessional students and faculty. For the third scholarly activity, two professional presentations pursued information about how conference participants might use the MACM in their own academic institutions. Evaluative feedback showed the MACM was practical, easy to understand, and theoretically connected to ecology theory. The three scholarly products informed the progression and final outcome of the banded dissertation. The discussion section wove together the overarching themes from the scholarly products. In other words, the discussion section explored the best practices for teaching interprofessional education based on faculty perception and a conceptual model using mutual aid processes from ecology theory. In closing, implications for social work practice, policy, and research were noted.