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Introduction: Being culturally secure, respectful and responsive can mean occupational therapists can contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. New culturally responsive accreditation and competency standards provide an opportunity to decolonise the profession to enhance the cultural capabilities of graduates. The purpose of this study was to explore how well‐prepared Australian occupational therapy courses are to implement the new standards. Methods: The principles of participatory action research were applied. An initial survey with occupational therapy academic staff was used to inform questions for semi‐structured interviews. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 10 occupational therapy academics and occupational therapy accreditors. Interview data were thematically analysed. Findings: The four themes identified from the interviews were: occupational therapy profession drivers, effective leadership, community and Elder involvement, and course design and delivery. Conclusion: The new accreditation and competency standards are a promising step forward for the profession. However, the profession needs to be better prepared to decolonise Australian occupational therapy. A positive and culturally secure way forward is to engage Elders and other community members in learning experiences to build student, academic and practicing occupational therapist's cultural capability. Non‐Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership at all levels of the profession and within universities is crucial to establishing trusting, reciprocal relationships to support deep knowledge exchange. These relationships lay the foundation to build cultural capabilities and decolonise processes in the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interprofessional education (IPE) is embedded in many health professional training programs, often with a focus on collaborative teamwork. Most studies into whether IPE delivers the desired collaborative teamwork capabilities has tended to rely on short term, self-assessed changes in learners' attitudes, knowledge and skills. This study adopted overt ethnographic observation to understand how a convenience sample of students behave in groups during interprofessional team-based clinical placements. Interprofessional student teams were observed by two independent observers on eight occasions (a total of 720 hours) across three sites. Thematic analysis of the observational data indicates that student teams fell into two categories: higher and lower functioning. Higher functioning teams were observed using humor to build rapport, reduce tension and express humility, and evidenced a greater emphasis on shared client goals. In contrast, lower functioning teams were more formal, with no evidence of humor and less interaction. The higher functioning teams, therefore, not only demonstrated greater interprofessional collaboration they also appeared to have higher levels of psychological safety. Participants in the higher functioning teams also demonstrated mutual trust and confidence and took more risks, often speaking up to provide suggestions, share knowledge and skills, and seek or offer feedback. The results suggest that further explicit training in, and assessment of, psychological safety in IPE needs to be undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consensus moderation, where collaboration and discussion take place to reach an agreement on mark allocation, is a frequently used approach to quality assurance in higher education. Unit coordinators play a vital role in facilitating consensus moderation, yet limited research has focused on their role in moderation practices. This study explored unit coordinators' perceptions and experiences of consensus moderation in Australian higher education through five focus groups. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, data analysis identified three discursive constructions of consensus moderation situated in the wider discourse of the neoliberal university: a truly collaborative process, an illusion, and a process to manage markers. Unit coordinators in this study were positioned as either supportive, compliant but ineffective, or powerful. In contrast, markers were positioned as helpful and compliant although inexperienced and needing support; uncooperative, resistant, troublesome and demanding; or inexperienced and malleable. This paper has identified varied knowledge and understanding of consensus moderation processes and practice. These findings can inform moderation policy and practices and unit coordinator professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interprofessional identity development is an emerging area of research. Whilst there is a growing body of studies exploring interprofessional identity development and interprofessional education, little is known about interprofessional identity development in healthcare professionals and the impact of interprofessional identity on practice. This study explored interprofessional identity development in graduates during their first year of work as health professionals and the influence of this on practice. All graduates had prior interprofessional education as students. Fourteen interviews with eight graduates were conducted. Data was analysed cross-sectionally using inductive thematic analysis. Three inter-related themes were developed: 'growing confidence,' 'commitment to client-centred care,' and 'maintaining dual identification in different contexts.' These themes demonstrated that, first, interprofessional identity development occurred along a continuum influenced by the practice context and the individual's commitment to client-centred care. Second, confidence identifying and practising as a healthcare professional facilitates further interprofessional identity development. Third, maintaining identification as an interprofessional practitioner involves developing an increasingly sophisticated understanding of interprofessional practice by viewing interprofessional identity through increasingly complex meaning-making lenses consistent with the constructive developmental theory of self. Findings support the inclusion of pre-licensure interprofessional education and inform further interprofessional identity research in professionals beyond their first year of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]