Study 3: Negotiating educator identities: Immigrant patients' perspectives on involvement in healthcare professions education

However, little is known about how immigrant patients perceive educator roles or what shapes their willingness to undertake them. As fulfilling educator roles involves questions of recognition, legitimacy and belonging, we selected Social Identity Theory (SIT) to explore how immigrant patients negotiate educator identities within HPE.

Methods

We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 16 immigrant patients in Northern Ireland. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. SIT informed interpretation of the findings, to deepen understanding of how participants constructed, negotiated, and sustained educator identities.

Results Four interconnected themes were identified: Reframing differences as educational expertise, Giving back through education, Negotiating educational credibility, and Becoming part of the educational community. Participants viewed their migration-related experiences as distinctive educational resources that could broaden students' understanding of culturally responsive care. Willingness to participate depended not simply on being invited but on believing that their experiential knowledge would be recognised as legitimate educational expertise and whether they felt they were seen as credible members of the educational community.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that immigrant patients see meaningful opportunities to contribute to HPE, particularly when their migration-related experiential knowledge is recognised as educationally valuable. Such recognition supports confidence, belonging and the development of an educator identity, encouraging sustained engagement. Creating opportunities that recognise and support immigrant patients as educators may benefit both learners and the patients themselves while broadening the diversity of perspectives represented in HPE.

Attached files Interview transcripts (anonymized ) Orcid ID orcid.org/0000-0003-1508-1395