Supporting Children’s Health and Well-Being Through Interprofessional Collaboration: A Scoping Review of Educational Collaboration Between Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Teacher Training

Abstract

<p>Addressing children’s complex health and well-being issues requires the collaborative eforts of health and social care pro-fessionals and teachers to develop efective care solutions and prevent the escalation of problems. Consequently, there isa recognized need to prepare professionals in children’s services for interprofessional collaboration already during undergraduatestudies. However, knowledge on interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at promoting related competencies is fragmented. Ascoping review was conducted to map the scientifc literature on educational collaboration among health sciences, social sciencesand teacher training, including collaboration with working life and the studies common for the students of these felds. Scientifcpublication in English in 2000–2023 was searched. A total of 1197 papers were initially identifed. Following the selection process,25 articles were included in the thematic analysis. Of the 25 articles analysed, 60% were empirical and 40% were theoretical.Perspectives included education (<em>n</em> = 10), healthcare (n = 5), social work (<em>n</em> = 2) and general interprofessional work (<em>n</em> = 8). Temain contexts were children with special needs (<em>n</em> = 11) and child and family well-being (<em>n</em> = 5). Te reporting was guided by thePRISMA-ScR checklist. Te literature described the requirements for collaboration between faculties in universities for in-terdisciplinary education and the challenges experienced. In higher education, programmes in health sciences, social sciences andteacher training collaborated to enhance students’ interprofessional competencies through two main strategies: interfacultycollaboration in designing and delivering joint studies and collaboration with working life to provide authentic, practice-basedlearning. Tese shared studies emphasised skills such as collaborative attitudes, role understanding and knowledge exchan-ge—competencies that are essential for professionals working with clients of all ages. Tis review contributes to the knowledgebase on interprofessional education and highlights the importance of both academic and practice-based collaboration. It alsoidentifes key challenges, including structural barriers within universities—such as rigid curricula and disciplinary silos—andlimited resources for engaging in professional practices.<br></p>