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A conceptual framework of student professionalization for health professional education and research

  • Marilou Bélisle EMAIL logo , Patrick Lavoie , Jacinthe Pepin , Nicolas Fernandez , Louise Boyer , Kathleen Lechasseur and Caroline Larue
Published/Copyright: March 3, 2021

Abstract

Objectives

To present a conceptual framework of student professionalization for health professional education and research.

Methods

Synthesis and discussion of a program of research on competency-based education.

Results

Competency-based education relies on active, situation-based group learning strategies to prepare students to become health professionals who are connected to patient and population needs. Professionalization is understood as a dynamic process of imagining, becoming, and being a member of a health profession. It rests on the evolution of three interrelated dimensions: professional competencies, professional culture, and professional identity. Professionalization occurs throughout students’ encounters with meaningful learning experiences that involve three core components: the roles students experience in situations bounded within specific contexts. Educational practices conducive to professionalization include active learning, reflection, and feedback.

Conclusions

This conceptual framework drives a research agenda aimed at understanding how students become health professional and how learning experiences involving action, reflection, and feedback foster that process and the advancement of professional practices.


Corresponding author: Marilou Bélisle, Faculty of Education, Université de Sherbrooke, 150, Place Charles-Le Moyne, Bureau 200, Longueuil, QC, Canada, J4K 0A8, Phone: +1 450 463 1835x61559, E-mail:

Funding source: Équipe FUTUR

Award Identifier / Grant number: N/A

  1. Research funding: This work was supported by Équipe FUTUR, a research team receiving an infrastructure grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture.

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: None declared.

  4. Ethical approval: Not applicable.

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Received: 2020-10-22
Accepted: 2021-02-03
Published Online: 2021-03-03

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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