An expectation of introductory interprofessional education (IPE) is improvement in attitudes towards other professions. However, the theory surrounding professional identity formation suggests this expectation may be premature. The objective of this study was to quantify first-year health professional students’ attitudes towards their own and other professions and to investigate the relationship between strength of professional identity and attitudes towards other professions and interprofessional learning. Using a pre/post-test design, researchers administered the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) to 864 first-year healthcare students in the Academic Health Center (AHC) at the University of Minnesota. The findings showed a decline in student attitudes towards their own and other professions. Additionally, a positive correlation between a weakened professional identity and readiness for interprofessional learning was demonstrated. This study found that an introductory IPE course did not positively affect student attitudes towards other professions, or strengthen professional identity or readiness for interprofessional learning. Analysis of the findings support the successive stages of professional identity formation.

Oropharyngeal cancers (OPCa) caused by HPV have emerged as one of the leading causes of malignancies caused by HPV infection. They are also significantly more likely to occur in males and in people with a history of oral sex with multiple partners. Gay and bisexual men are disproportionately affected by HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers. We studied 1699 gay and bisexual men on 2 major dating sites in the US to assess their knowledge about HPV-related OPCa, attitudes toward screening for it, beliefs about oropharyngeal cancer screening based on the Health Belief Model, and attitudes toward possible screening approaches for OPCa. Knowledge on a 12-item scale was low, with a median of 5 items correct: 72% knew of the benefits of HPV vaccination. Significant predictors of needing OPCa screening included perception of risk for OPCa, seeing it as severe, having lower barriers, fewer reasons to avoid screening, higher knowledge, and being HPV vaccinated were significant predictors, explaining half the total variance. Most participants would accept routine, virtual/online doctor or dental appointments, and over half would accept an in-person screening. Nearly two-thirds stated that they would accept getting checked for OPCa if they could do self-screening at home, and half were prepared to use an online screening tool or app, where they could take an “oral selfie” and send it to a healthcare provider for examination. One-third stated that they would trust the results of a home screening completed by themselves and posted to a website equally as cancer screening completed online by a healthcare provider. Data indicate that despite low OPCA knowledge levels, the risk of HPV-associated OPCa was known. Being at personal risk and having knowledge of disease severity had 70% of the sample thinking about, or preparing to get, screening. Self-screening by a smartphone “oral selfie” transmitted to a screening website was acceptable to many gay and bisexual men, and online screening by a doctor or dentist was acceptable to most. OPCa screening in this population using electronic technology, together with the increasing incidence of HPV-associated OPCa in gay and bisexual men, brings together an opportunity to detect OPCa early.