Health students' perceptions of collaborative interprofessional practice in caring for patients with chronic diseases

Abstract Treating patients with chronic diseases is challenging for public health due to their multicausality. This study sought to understand students' perceptions of the care provided to patients with chronic diseases. This is an exploratory and qualitative field study with an exploratory approach. Students from the final year of the Nursing, Physiotherapy, Psychology, Physical Education, and Medicine courses at a private university in the interior of São Paulo, Brazil, were included. Those absent on the day of the invitation and the day scheduled for interviews were excluded. Data was collected using a script constructed by the authors with guiding questions from September to November 2023. The interview audio was recorded and later transcribed using IRAMUTEQ software. The interview was then analyzed considering references to collaborative interprofessional practice and chronic non-communicable diseases. The results indicate that some students identified social determinants of these pathologies, their challenges, their treatment, and the need for interprofessional work, which remains in the theoretical and practical training scenario.