A Breath of Fresh Air: Social Work IPE With People Experiencing Homelessness

To meet the grand challenge of ending homelessness, social work education programs must prepare students to effectively collaborate with other health-related disciplines. This article presents social work and nursing student perceptions of an innovative interprofessional education activity conducted at a day shelter serving people experiencing homelessness. Students indicate they learned about and from each other, potentially improving future interprofessional collaboration. They also describe learning with each other as they interacted with people experiencing homelessness, developing a new understanding of this persistent social problem and an increased sensitivity toward individuals experiencing homelessness. Students also identify opportunities to improve the activity. Based on these positive results, implications for the continued use of interprofessional activities that include people experiencing homelessness are discussed.