Peeling the layers: a grounded theory of interprofessional co-learning with residents of a homeless shelter.

Clients, patients, families, and communities must be conceived as partners in care delivery, not just as recipients (D'Amour, D. & Oandasan, I. (2005). Journal of Interprofessional Care, 19(Suppl.), 8-20). Health-care students need an opportunity to understand community member self-determination, partnership, and empowerment (Scheyett, A., & Diehl, M. ( 2004 ). Social Work Education, 23(4), 435-450), within the frame of interprofessional education (IPE) where community members are involved as teachers and learners. The aim of this grounded theory research was to determine the conditions that support health-care students to learn with, from, and about community members. This study took place in a shelter for the homeless where nursing and social work students learned interprofessionally along with residents and clients of the shelter. Data were gathered through 7 months of participant observation, interviews, and focus groups. The interprofessional co-learning theory that emerged introduces the three phases of entering, engaging, and emerging, which co-learners experienced at different levels of intensity. This article outlines the conditions that support each of these phases of the co-learning process. This interprofessional co-learning theory provides a basis for further development and evaluation of IPE programs that strive to actively include community members as teachers and learners, experts, and novices together with service providers, students, and faculty members.