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Ethics Education in Allied Health: A Systematic Review of Learning Outcomes for Entry-Level Students

Received: 21 December 2015    Accepted: 23 December 2015    Published: 13 May 2016
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Abstract

The complexities of modern healthcare pose a range of ethical issues for health professionals. In preparing student health professionals for these complexities, entry-level education must go beyond exposure to ethical theory, codes and standards. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the student learning outcomes reported in peer-reviewed allied health literature following ethics training. The review method included an a priori protocol, adherence to PRISMA statement, with critical appraisal via the Critical Appraisal Checklist for an Article on an Educational Intervention and The Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) Qualitative Checklist. From a total of 1237 possible records published between 1991 and 2015, 11 studies of variable methodological quality met the inclusion criteria for final synthesis. Studies focused on teaching to occupational therapy, physiotherapy, pharmacy and dietetics students (n=588). Heterogeneity among studies precluded meta-analysis and data were synthesised qualitatively in a narrative format. A range of outcomes measures were used in the reviewed publications including the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO), Defining Issues Test (DIT), Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), Attitudes to Health Professionals Questionnaire (AHPQ), Student Development Task Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) and the Socio-moral Reflection Measure-short form (SRM-SF). Other studies surveyed students at the completion of the educational intervention using free text questions or Likert scales. The pedagogical approach used was varied, including transformative, constructivist, arts-based, inter-professional, problem-based or experiential learning approaches. The findings of this review suggest that given the current body of evidence, the teaching of ethics to and for allied health students should include the delivery of ethics focused content, be intensive in nature, link theory with real-life situations and practice, and expose students to multiple views using a variety of methods such as reflection and discussion of ambiguous, controversial topics. While the exact prescription of ethics training to maximise efficacy and uptake is unknown, there is some suggestion that immediate learning outcomes may follow a dose-response pattern, providing potential for future teaching models to incorporate repeated ethics exposure support for cumulative and sustained learning.

DOI 10.11648/j.hss.s.2016040201.13
Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 2-1, April 2016)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Ethical Sensitivity: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Page(s) 13-24
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Entry-Level, Students, Education, Ethics, Moral, Systematic Review

References
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Author Information
  • International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, Sansom Institute, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

  • International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, Sansom Institute, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

  • International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, Sansom Institute, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

  • International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, Sansom Institute, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

  • International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, Sansom Institute, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

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    Louise K. Wiles, Carolyn M. Murray, Amy Baker, Angela Berndt, Kobie Boshoff. (2016). Ethics Education in Allied Health: A Systematic Review of Learning Outcomes for Entry-Level Students. Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(2-1), 13-24. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.s.2016040201.13

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    ACS Style

    Louise K. Wiles; Carolyn M. Murray; Amy Baker; Angela Berndt; Kobie Boshoff. Ethics Education in Allied Health: A Systematic Review of Learning Outcomes for Entry-Level Students. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2016, 4(2-1), 13-24. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.s.2016040201.13

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    AMA Style

    Louise K. Wiles, Carolyn M. Murray, Amy Baker, Angela Berndt, Kobie Boshoff. Ethics Education in Allied Health: A Systematic Review of Learning Outcomes for Entry-Level Students. Humanit Soc Sci. 2016;4(2-1):13-24. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.s.2016040201.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hss.s.2016040201.13,
      author = {Louise K. Wiles and Carolyn M. Murray and Amy Baker and Angela Berndt and Kobie Boshoff},
      title = {Ethics Education in Allied Health: A Systematic Review of Learning Outcomes for Entry-Level Students},
      journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
      volume = {4},
      number = {2-1},
      pages = {13-24},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hss.s.2016040201.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.s.2016040201.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.s.2016040201.13},
      abstract = {The complexities of modern healthcare pose a range of ethical issues for health professionals. In preparing student health professionals for these complexities, entry-level education must go beyond exposure to ethical theory, codes and standards. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the student learning outcomes reported in peer-reviewed allied health literature following ethics training. The review method included an a priori protocol, adherence to PRISMA statement, with critical appraisal via the Critical Appraisal Checklist for an Article on an Educational Intervention and The Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) Qualitative Checklist. From a total of 1237 possible records published between 1991 and 2015, 11 studies of variable methodological quality met the inclusion criteria for final synthesis. Studies focused on teaching to occupational therapy, physiotherapy, pharmacy and dietetics students (n=588). Heterogeneity among studies precluded meta-analysis and data were synthesised qualitatively in a narrative format. A range of outcomes measures were used in the reviewed publications including the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO), Defining Issues Test (DIT), Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), Attitudes to Health Professionals Questionnaire (AHPQ), Student Development Task Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) and the Socio-moral Reflection Measure-short form (SRM-SF). Other studies surveyed students at the completion of the educational intervention using free text questions or Likert scales. The pedagogical approach used was varied, including transformative, constructivist, arts-based, inter-professional, problem-based or experiential learning approaches. The findings of this review suggest that given the current body of evidence, the teaching of ethics to and for allied health students should include the delivery of ethics focused content, be intensive in nature, link theory with real-life situations and practice, and expose students to multiple views using a variety of methods such as reflection and discussion of ambiguous, controversial topics. While the exact prescription of ethics training to maximise efficacy and uptake is unknown, there is some suggestion that immediate learning outcomes may follow a dose-response pattern, providing potential for future teaching models to incorporate repeated ethics exposure support for cumulative and sustained learning.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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    AB  - The complexities of modern healthcare pose a range of ethical issues for health professionals. In preparing student health professionals for these complexities, entry-level education must go beyond exposure to ethical theory, codes and standards. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the student learning outcomes reported in peer-reviewed allied health literature following ethics training. The review method included an a priori protocol, adherence to PRISMA statement, with critical appraisal via the Critical Appraisal Checklist for an Article on an Educational Intervention and The Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) Qualitative Checklist. From a total of 1237 possible records published between 1991 and 2015, 11 studies of variable methodological quality met the inclusion criteria for final synthesis. Studies focused on teaching to occupational therapy, physiotherapy, pharmacy and dietetics students (n=588). Heterogeneity among studies precluded meta-analysis and data were synthesised qualitatively in a narrative format. A range of outcomes measures were used in the reviewed publications including the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO), Defining Issues Test (DIT), Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), Attitudes to Health Professionals Questionnaire (AHPQ), Student Development Task Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) and the Socio-moral Reflection Measure-short form (SRM-SF). Other studies surveyed students at the completion of the educational intervention using free text questions or Likert scales. The pedagogical approach used was varied, including transformative, constructivist, arts-based, inter-professional, problem-based or experiential learning approaches. The findings of this review suggest that given the current body of evidence, the teaching of ethics to and for allied health students should include the delivery of ethics focused content, be intensive in nature, link theory with real-life situations and practice, and expose students to multiple views using a variety of methods such as reflection and discussion of ambiguous, controversial topics. While the exact prescription of ethics training to maximise efficacy and uptake is unknown, there is some suggestion that immediate learning outcomes may follow a dose-response pattern, providing potential for future teaching models to incorporate repeated ethics exposure support for cumulative and sustained learning.
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