Community Health Fair’s Impact on Interprofessional Socialization

Having information on alternations in professional beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that occur as a result of the educational activity can empower decision makers with tangible data to support their efforts. The aim of the health fair described was to educate attendees about common health problems and preventable measures.



A mixed methods design was used to assess health profession students' values, attitudes, learning outcomes, and opinions before and after participation in a community health fair. Health profession students at various stages of their training from pharmacy, podiatry, physical therapy, physician assistant, and psychology voluntarily staffed the fair under faculty supervision. Data were collected from 14 health profession student volunteers, six first-year physician assistant (PA) students and eight doctor of physical therapy (DPT) students.



Two validated nine-item pre-post refined versions of the Interprofessional Socialization (IS) and Valuing Scale (ISVS-21) were collected before and after health fair participation from PA and Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students (ISVS-9A, ISVS-9B). Another open-ended question survey, reviewed by three faculty considered experts in IPE, was emailed to PA and DPT students post participation. A thematic analysis of the responses was performed.



A two-tailed, paired sample t-test with an alpha of 0.05 was used to compare the pre- (mean = 55.69, SD = 4.889) and post- (mean = 61.08, SD = 2.019) community health fair ISVS scores for the thirteen (92.9%) student participants (5PA, 8DPT) who completed the questionnaire at both data points. A mean improvement of 5.39 points was evident. This improvement was statistically significant (t = 4.891, df = 12, p

Thematic analysis was applied to the seven responses (50%) available for analysis. The key elements that emerged were: roles and responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and quality improvement.



The interprofessional health fair was an effective way to teach IS as self-reported by PA and DPT students on ISVS instrument and on an open-ended survey, with results corresponding to IPEC competency domains.



The interprofessional health fair can serve as a model for others looking to implement similar activity in their community to educate the public about prevention measures while providing effective IPE.