Flow experiences improve mindfulness of educational emotions during interprofessional training. Meta-analysis of a pilot study

Abstract

IntroductionCsikszentmihalyi defines “flow experience” as the state of mind students experience when the average skills and challenges while learning are above their own average.ObjectivesDelle Fave, Massimi, & Bassi optimal experiences are used to assess students’ flow experience during interprofessional education (IPE).AimsTo use the emotions comprising the Milan school eight-channel model [“afraid, concerned, bored, relaxed, in control, excited, happy (‘flow’), and glad”] to assess flow experiences of undergraduate health care students during interprofessional training.MethodsTwenty-seven undergraduate health care students undergoing IPE training recoded their flow emotions during discussion of a clinical case in ward rounds, patient care in interprofessional teams, self-reflective practice at the end of each day of training and supervision of teachers. Statistical evaluation using meta-analysis with Tau squared (t2), Cochrane's Q and I2 provided the results (Table 1).ResultsAs reported in Table 1, interactions with teachers (I2 = 60.98%), patient care (I2 = 58.87%) and discussion of clinical cases (I2 = 63.31%) reported higher variability, significant at P < 0.05. The most frequent emotions were “relaxed” (> 66%) and “in control” (> 66%) but not “flow” (> 20%).ConclusionsResults show that challenges were below the skills possessed, which can slow down the learning process.Table 1Results for flow experiences in interprofessional education.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.