Doha: A research study entitled “Health educators’ professional agency in negotiating their PBL facilitator roles: Q study” was published in one of the top journals in Medical and Health Professions Education (Medical Education, impact factor 6.251).
This was an interdisciplinary collaborative effort between the QU College of Medicine, College of Dental Medicine and College of Education. The study was led by Dr. Xiangyun Du from College of Education, Dr. Michail Nomikos and Dr. Marwan Abu-Hijleh from College of Medicine, Dr. Kamran Ali from College of Dental Medicine, in collaboration with Dr. Adrian Lundberg from Malmö University.
The authors used a novel methodology to explore health educators’ perceptions of their enactment of professional agency in Problem-based Learning (PBL) facilitation process in a post-pandemic context. Professional agency refers to the ability of individuals and organisations to influence and transform.
PBL facilitators from medical and dental programmes in Qatar University participated in the study and Q methodology was employed to collect and analyse the data both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results revealed a high variation of participants’ perceptions of professional agency enactment, indicating the need for establishing a common understanding of PBL facilitation work in the given context.
Dr. Nomikos, the corresponding author of this paper and the Head of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Medicine at Qatar University, said, “Our study showed that in the post-pandemic era, additional institutional efforts are required to support professional learning for PBL facilitation.”
Dr. Abu-Hijleh, the Acting Dean in the College of Medicine at Qatar University, added, “This study will contribute to future teaching and learning initiatives and pedagogical development activities at Qatar University and internationally.”
