Interprofessional education (IPE) may represent a novel approach to training health professional students in vaccine counselling. Through this approach, medical and pharmacy students may be better prepared to address individual vaccine hesitancy. To assess medical and pharmacy students’ readiness for IPE, to identify factors associated with their willingness to participate in an interprofessional vaccine counseling course, and to determine the reasons underlying their willingness or unwillingness to participate. We also aimed to find out students’ preferences regarding educational formats and instructional modalities. This cross-sectional study was conducted at a state university in İstanbul, Türkiye, between May and June 2025. Pharmacy and medical students (excluding first-years) were included for assessing the readiness for IPE through the Readiness of Healthcare Students for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS). Factors associated with willingness were identified using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Barriers to willingness to participate in IPE on vaccine counseling were analyzed through free-text responses based on the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Students’ preferences regarding educational formats and instructional modalities were identified. Both overall RIPLS score and domain-specific scores were significantly higher in pharmacy students compared with medical students (p < 0.001, for all). The TDF domains related to barriers to participate in IPE on vaccine counselling were knowledge, beliefs about consequences, environmental context and resources, and social influences. In the multivariate analysis, only being a pharmacy student was significantly associated with willingness to participate in IPE vaccine counseling course (OR:5.40, 95% CI:2.78–10.49; p < 0.001). The proportion of pharmacy students who preferred case-based learning, clinical rotations, and online courses was significantly higher than that of medical students (p < 0.05, for all). Medical and pharmacy students demonstrated a high level of readiness for IPE, with pharmacy students showing greater willingness to participate in IPE on vaccine counselling than medical students. Discipline-specific differences in willingness, attitudes, and learning preferences highlight the importance of tailoring IPE initiatives to professional identity and readiness profiles.
Okuyan et al. (Mon,) studied this question.