Investigating the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Cultural Intelligence to Attitudes towards Team-Based Learning in Undergraduate Pre-health Profession Students

INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE TO ATTITUDES TOWARDS TEAM-BASED LEARNING IN UNDERGRADUATE PRE-HEALTH PROFESSION STUDENTS By Kevin A. Harris, Doctoral Candidate A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2017. Major Director: Kevin Allison, Ph.D. Professor, Clinical Psychology Department of Psychology Improving patient outcomes has long been the rationale supporting calls to reform health care delivery systems and health profession education programs (Greiner, 2002; Institutes of Medicine, 2001, 2004; O’Neil & Pew Health Professions Commission, 1998). A common aim sought through recent healthcare reforms is greater patient-centered delivery of care. In 2003, the Institute of Medicine shared its vision statement for health professions education, asserting that “[a]ll health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches and informatics” (Knebel & Greiner, 2003, p. 3). The importance of including team-based learning pedagogy in health profession education is viewed as critical to students’ preparation for challenges they will confront in their professional careers (Sibley & Parmelee, 2008). Despite the importance placed on teamwork in health sciences education, little attention has been devoted to understanding underlying factors influencing health sciences student attitudes towards learning in a team-based environment (Curran, Sharpe, Forristall, & Flynn, 2008). Moreover, there is less understanding of factors that influence attitudes towards team-based learning in prehealth students who are pursuing admission into a health profession program (Dumke, VanderWielen, Harris, & Ford-Smith, 2016). The purpose of this study is to explore the importance of specific non-academic factors, emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence, in shaping undergraduate pre-health students’ attitudes towards team-based learning. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional study design was used in this study employing correlational and multivariate regression analysis techniques. Findings indicate: a) significant relationships between emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence to the value students place on working in groups; and, b) emotional intelligence accounts for approximately 3% of variance above and beyond the Big Five personality factors in predicting student attitudes towards group work. This study has the potential to inform the development of interprofessional education policy and practice in two fundamental ways. First, the study provides insight on the importance of emotional and social competence in shaping students’ attitudes towards team-based learning. Secondly, increasing the understanding of emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence in the pre-health stage of a student’s development can influence the preparation of pre-health students for admissions to health professions programs.