Foundations of Interprofessional Health Education: An Ecological Theory

This book is designed to introduce a theory of ecological psychology into interprofessional health education. The foundations are affordances (features in the environment that afford the opportunity to be recognized and utilized), the life-world (what the meaningful environment contains for the trainee), and behavioral-settings (person-made affordances that are permissive, supportive, or resistive to specific behaviors). Expanding the life-world is the main mechanism of learning in health care. Becoming aware of intentional and unintentional features of the behavioral setting is how we structure the curricular environment to achieve this life-world expansion. The book is structured into four domains: The Natural Domain, The Mental Domain, The Social Domain, and Non-Linearity. The final application section lays out a structure for designing, implementing, and evaluating the educational program in a professional healthcare setting. This book is ideal for clinician managers of interprofessional healthcare clinics, and for the teachers and trainees from each discipline (e.g., medicine, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, social work, etc.).