Implementation of person-centred care in the health profession university degree courses in Sweden
Short description
The transition to person-centred care is underway in many countries. A large body of studies shows positive effects of applying person-centred care in clinical practice for various conditions. In order to be able to make a powerful change, knowledge about person-centred care needs to be applied in higher education. There is a lack of studies that explore barriers and factors that facilitate the implementation of person-centred care in higher education. We in the GPCC Education research group have therefore conducted a series of studies. One of these has mapped the content of person-centred care in the national programs for the largest health professions. In two subsequent studies, we have conducted interviews with program managers at the above programs.
Brief description of main results
The mapping study examined 48 different educational programmes (occupational therapist, physiotherapist, doctor, nursing programmes). We found no content related to person-centred care at the national level in policy documents, but signs of person-centred care were identified at the local level. In 15% of the local curricula and 1% of the course curricula, person-centred care was included in the learning outcomes.
The interview studies with programme managers showed that "person-centred care moves at different speeds" and that the ongoing transition to person-centred care is perceived as fragmented and driven by individuals within the programmes rather than at a system level. There is uncertainty about what person-centred care is and the core of person-centred care is perceived ambiguously. Programme managers are asking for didactic and pedagogically designed support. Furthermore, the studies show a great deal of tension in how teachers and students understand and discuss person-centred care.
Continued work
Based on the above results, the research group behind this project GPCC Education has designed a research program that forms the basis for doctoral student Annie Jonnergård's thesis work Person-centered learning – Co-created educational module in higher education. It aims to develop a module that aims to support the learning of PCV in higher education.
Scientific publications from this project
Jonnergård A, Björkman I, Feldthusen C, Forsgren E, Lundberg M, Wallengren Gustafsson C. Person-centred care in the context of higher education – a discourse analysis based on interviews with programme directors in Swedish higher education. BMC Med Educ. 2024 Aug 13;24(1):873. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05885-2.
Björkman I, Feldthusen C, Forsgren E, Jonnergård A, Lindström Kjellberg I, Wallengren Gustafsson C, Lundberg M. Person-centred care on the move - an interview study with programme directors in Swedish higher education. BMC Med Educ. 2022 Aug 1;22(1):589.
Wallengren C Björkman I, Feldthusen C, Lindström Kjellberg I, Lundberg M. Person-centred care content in medicine, occupational therapy, nursing, and physiotherapy education programs. BMC Med Educ. 2022 Jun 24;22(1):492. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03502-8. PMID: 35739515
Conference and network
12-13 December 2024, the conference Learning about Person-centred care in Higher Education (LearnPCC) was held in Gothenburg. During the conference, a network For LearnPCC was established for interested participants.
This network will offer digital networking meetings four times a year with the aim of spreading knowledge and experiences about learning person-centred care in health science education programmes. At each network meeting, an invited researcher will present their research on person-centred care in higher education.
Researchers
Principal investigator
Mari Lundberg
Researchers
Ida Björkman
Caroline Feldthusen
Irma Kjellberg Lindström
Catarina Wallengren Gustafsson