Engaging Industry in Health Professions’ Education: Benefits and Challenges

Belinda Kenny (), David O'Connor, Ellie Sugden, Clarice Y. Tang, Caterina Tannous and Elizabeth Thyer
Additional contact information
Belinda Kenny: School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
David O'Connor: Community Health Care, Primary Care Community Health, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, Penrith, NSW 2750, Australia
Ellie Sugden: School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Clarice Y. Tang: Physiotherapy, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Caterina Tannous: School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Elizabeth Thyer: School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 12, 1-23

Abstract: Effective partnerships between universities and industry facilitate health-profession students’ learning and work readiness. However, developing sustainable industry engagement in academic curricula remains challenging. This study utilised Social Exchange Theory (SET) to explore the benefits of and barriers to industry engagement within health-profession preparation programs. A realist evaluation framework was used to consider factors that impacted experiences and outcomes for academics and clinicians who engaged in the development and delivery of curriculum for a new health professional preparation program in speech pathology. A sequential mixed-methods design was adopted to explore factors influencing clinicians’ motivation to engage with the university, using an online survey ( n = 18) and focus group ( n = 5). Clinicians rated “personal development” and contributing to the “future workforce” as the highest personal benefits. “Sharing knowledge” was the highest team benefit, and “staff satisfaction” was the highest employer benefit. Time and workload were perceived barriers. Academics ( n = 2) and clinicians ( n = 3) who collaborated in learning and teaching experiences also participated in a post-engagement focus group. Three Context Mechanism Outcome configurations were shown to facilitate engagement outcomes: engagement as opportunity, partnership, and work readiness. In accordance with SET, the nature of exchange processes and professional relationships contributed to positive engagement outcomes for clinicians, academics, and enhanced health-profession education.

Keywords: health professions’ education; higher education; work-integrated learning; curricula (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/12/6131/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/12/6131/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:12:p:6131-:d:1171850

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().