Differences in professional and interprofessional identity across years of professional education: a cross-sectional study of Norwegian health- and social care students

There has been a call for studies investigating the assumption that professional and interprofessional identities evolve differently during educational programmes. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of professional and interprofessional identity across different years of health and social care students’ professional education. This cross-sectional study invited students across all study years from eleven health and social care higher education programmes at one university to complete a web-based questionnaire. Professional and interprofessional identity were assessed using the Macleod Clark Professional Identity Scale (MCPIS-9). Differences in identity scores between study years were examined using two-sample t-tests and multivariable regression models. In total, 864 students, approximately one-fifth of the study population, participated. Across all study years, mean (SD) scores were 4.15 (0.54) for professional identity and 4.17 (0.53) for interprofessional identity (scale range 1–5). Final-year students scored slightly higher than first-year students on professional identity (mean difference 0.18, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.30), with a smaller difference observed for interprofessional identity (0.10, 95% CI − 0.01 to 0.21). The difference between first- and final-year students was 0.08 points larger for professional than for interprofessional identity. When stratified by programme length, the mean difference in professional identity between the first and final study year was 0.17 (p = 0.034) in three-year bachelor programmes and 0.30 (p = 0.022) in six-year professional programmes. Corresponding differences for interprofessional identity were smaller: 0.08 (p = 0.386) for bachelor programmes and 0.24 (p = 0.049) for six-year programmes. Students in later study years exhibited slightly higher professional identity scores than earlier years, with smaller between-year differences for interprofessional identity. The very small between-year differences may reflect lack of measurement sensitivity in MCPIS-9, stability in identity levels, high professional identity during the first year of study, or cohort effects inherent to cross-sectional designs.