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Clinical confidence following an interprofessional educational program on eating disorders for health care professionals: a qualitative analysis

Authors Pettersen G, Rosenvinge, Thune-Larsen, Wynn 

Received 18 April 2012

Accepted for publication 14 May 2012

Published 13 August 2012 Volume 2012:5 Pages 201—205

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S33089

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 3



Gunn Pettersen,1 Jan H Rosenvinge,1 Kari-Brith Thune-Larsen,2 Rolf Wynn1,3

1
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway; 2Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 3Division of Addictions and Specialized Services, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway

Abstract: There are an increasing number of educational programs to improve clinical competence and skills to treat mental disorders. For complex disorders there is also a focus on improving the quality of interprofessional work. This paper reports on interprofessional outputs of an educational program on eating disorders. A total of 207 professionals who completed the program were requested to describe up to 12 possible scenarios depicted as realistic prospects for their future work within this field. Analyzing the scenarios resulted in three categories of describing the participants' preferences: (1) interprofessional interventions and treatment; (2) the further development of competence; and (3) organization of the health care system. The findings showed that the participants were considering working across new lines in their current workplaces or crossing borders to new frontiers in the execution of competence. Our findings may be summarized into the concept of "clinical confidence." This concept has so far been understood as some kind of personal trait, disposition, or attitude. The present findings add nuances to this concept in terms of state-dependent encouragement, engagement, and a potential to act and to cross professional borders in order to better treat complex mental disorders.

Keywords: interprofessional educational programs, interprofessional work, clinical confidence, eating disorders program, health care professional

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