Year: 2025 | Month: October-December | Volume: 10 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 146-152
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijshr.20250421
To Evaluate the Perception, Readiness and Attitude of Healthcare Professionals Working in Community Towards Collaborative Practice
Dr. Ashish Gupta (PT)1, Dr. Nency Pandya (PT)2, Dr. R Harihara Prakash (PT)3, Dr. Kesha Patel (PT)4
1Professor, K M Patel Institute of Physiotherapy, Bhaikaka University, Gujarat, India.
2Assistant Professor, K M Patel Institute of Physiotherapy, Bhaikaka University, Gujarat, India.
3Professor & Head, K M Patel Institute of Physiotherapy, Bhaikaka University, Gujarat, India.
4Assistant Professor, Krishna School of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
Corresponding Author: Dr. Ashish Gupta (PT)
ABSTRACT
Background: Interprofessional Collaboration [IPC] in healthcare is defined as an active and ongoing process in which professionals of various backgrounds collaborate to provide services to healthcare users. It is essential to improve patient outcomes and to enhance job satisfaction as there is increased complexity of healthcare needs and the majority of the Indian population lives in rural areas. This study aims to evaluate the perception, readiness and attitude of healthcare professionals working in community healthcare settings toward collaborative practice among qualified healthcare professionals and trained healthcare workers.
Method: A Cross-sectional observational study was conducted in which total 202 healthcare professionals working in primary healthcare settings were recruited through snowball sampling. The Perception of INterprofessional COllaboration Model Questionnaire (PINCOM-Q), Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (IPAS) was used for data collection. The study used STATA to analyze patient data. Descriptive statistics were used to depict the baseline characteristics as well as overall perception, readiness and attitude of all the healthcare professionals and for between group comparison independent t-test was done.
Result: Trained healthcare workers showed significantly more favourable perception in all aspects of PINCOM-Q compared to qualified professionals (p<0.05). No significant differences were found between trained and qualified professionals in readiness and attitude toward interprofessional collaboration.
Conclusion: The healthcare professionals in community settings have a favourable perception, readiness, and attitude toward collaborative practice. Trained healthcare workers show a more favourable perception, while both groups display similar readiness and attitude.
Keywords: Community Settings, Healthcare professionals, Interprofessional collaboration, Primary health care, Teamwork.