Adolescents’ Subjective Views about Interprofessional Team Participation

Abstract


 Background: One common arrangement in the Norwegian child welfare system is the interprofessional collaborating team, not unlike the English core group. This team is often referred to as the ‘responsible team’ (RT) and is arranged when a child has needs that call for several services. Few studies about interprofessional collaboration focus on views of service users and, in particular, those of child and adolescent service users.
 Aims and objectives: The present study aims to explore adolescents’ subjective views about their participation in RTs. This study contributes further knowledge about the field of interprofessional collaboration, especially regarding the participation of adolescents.
 Design: Non-experimental, exploratory research design.
 Methods: Q-methodology was used to explore 26 adolescents’ subjective views about their collaboration within the responsible teams that were formed to support their welfare. Q-methodology is known as being particularly suitable for revealing vulnerable people’s nuanced subjective views and perspectives. The adolescents in this study were asked to rank order a set of 42 statements (Q-set). PQMethod was used to analyse the data.
 Results: Four factors emerged and revealed patterns of shared views among the adolescents. Factor 1: Optimistic and engaged despite bad experiences, Factor 2: Strive to not be defeated by their helpers, Factor 3: Battle weary and resigned, and Factor 4: Content, positive and full of trust.
 Implications: The present study may be relevant to researchers, health and social policy makers, in addition to professionals working in services that aim to improve children’s situations through interprofessional collaboration.

Educational psychology counsellors’ views about children’s participation in educational decision-making: A thematic analysis

“…On the one hand, the participants alluded to the importance of adjusting teams to fit SEN students' needs and the impact that SEN students' presence had on the participants' collaboration and progress. This result supports the findings of similar studies related to child welfare services in which children's participation in decision-making processes has been emphasised (Bache-Hansen, 2011;Saebjørnsen, 2017). On the other hand, children's presence on teams could also introduce limitations for the participants, for example, when dealing with different issues related to the students' problems.…”

“…Moreover, the research literature, for example, regarding child welfare and social work, has discussed children's participation in practice, such as when children participate in decisionmaking processes or on responsible teams (Hart, 1992;Thomas, 2007;Vis and Thomas, 2009;Bache-Hansen, 2011;Saebjørnsen, 2017). In contrast, there seems to be less research on children's participation in relation to special education and educational psychology services (EPSs) (Martin and Franklin, 2010;Prunty et al, 2012;Paré, 2015;Uziely, 2015;Moen et al, 2018;Economic & Social Research Council, 2019; The Norwegian Ombudsman for Children, 2019).…”