Identifying information literacy skills and behaviors in the curricular competencies of health professions

J Med Libr Assoc. 2020 Jul 1;108(3):463-479. doi: 10.5195/jmla.2020.833.

Abstract

Objective: This research identified the presence of information skill and behaviors components of information literacy in curricular competencies to inform a medical sciences library's instructional schema for five different professional programs at Texas A&M University: College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy, and School of Public Health.

Methods: Curricular competency documents were collected from each program and reviewed. Coding categories were identified from the curricular competencies of professional health curricula using data-driven qualitative coding. To guide the identification and coding of competency categories, we developed a seven-category rubric from the coding categories. Three researchers used this rubric to independently code the categories of all of the included professional health curricular competencies. An additional researcher used a revised version of the rubric to identify action verbs in each competency.

Results: Competencies for four of the five professional health curricula explicitly stated information skills and behaviors. Each of the five curricula included several competencies that depended on information-specific skills and behaviors. The most common verb used to describe implicit or explicit competencies was "evaluate."

Conclusions: The representation of information skills and behaviors aligns with the drive behind the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Both underpin the importance of evidence-based medicine methodology.

MeSH terms

  • Curriculum*
  • Health Occupations*
  • Humans
  • Information Literacy*
  • Professional Competence / standards*