A Phenomenological Evaluation of a Hybrid Model of Problem Based Learning for Multidisciplinary Healthcare Practitioners

Abstract

This study reports on the evaluation, using a phenomenological approach, of a hybrid model of PBL, implemented with a cohort of fifteen students. Semi-structured interviewing provided an interpretive basis for the lived experience of teaching and learning in the context of a Masters Degree programme designed specifically for multidisciplinary postgraduate healthcare education. The findings point towards a differentiation of attitude from behaviour and are grouped into three themes of ‘Professionalism and the Value of Character’, ‘Perceived Cognitive Development and Meaningful Learning‘ and the ‘Situatedness of Learning and Knowledge Transfer’.  It was perceived by students that professionalism could be learned through the process of PBL, although they did not necessarily feel familiar or comfortable when this process was new to them. They perceived the major benefit of using a hybrid PBL as a teaching strategy was that it afforded all students in the cohort a means of being valued in their contribution to the sessions and in their wider contribution to a multi-disciplinary workforce. The significant degrees to which both interprofessional learning and the adoption of a multidisciplinary approach had impacted upon student engagement were the two most salient outcomes of the study