Professionals' perceptions of interprofessional working in community mental health teams

Abstract

This paper seeks to establish whether the presence of core structures influences professionals' perceptions of interprofessional working within their teams by means of a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of all professionals working in integrated community mental health teams in an identified NHS Trust. The findings confirm that the interprofessional teams were integrated, but that the presence of meetings, Care Programme Approach policy or operational policy had little influence on perceptions of interprofessional working. Joint policies on documentation, risk and supervision were related to perceptions of interprofessional working. The majority of professionals were clear about their roles, but perceived that other members of the team did not recognise or understand these roles. Questions arise about how identified structures are operationalised in interprofessional teams. Practice areas may need to examine the effectiveness of the identified meetings and the involvement of the different professionals.

Health and social care professionals’ attitudes to interprofessional working and interprofessional education: A literature review

“…Some significant findings related to age, professional experience and attitudes were discussed by Herbert et al, (2007); Matziou et al, (2014); Pollard and Miers, (2008);and Reid et al, (2006). The team's size and structure, staff location and physical access to each other, and the variation in each professionals' operational polices were also considered as possible influences on the ability to deliver effective IPW and IPE (Baxter & Brumfit, 2008, Larkin & Callaghan, 2005. Prior experience of IPW was discussed by Jové et al, (2014) who found that those staff who had worked collaboratively before were found to have more positive attitudes to IPW.…”

“…Time pressures, limited resources, lack of understanding of roles and responsibilities, competing priorities, and access to other professionals prevent effective IPW between professional groups (Bailey, Jones, & Way, 2006;Braithwaite et al, 2012;Hughes & McCann, 2003;Kvarnström, 2008;Larkin & Callaghan, 2005;Snelgrove & Hughes, 2000). Healthcare teams are capable of improvising and developing strategies to work around such barriers (Baxter & Brumfit, 2008;Lingard et al, 2012).…”

Promoting mental health through multidisciplinary care: Experience of health professionals working in community mental health teams in Ireland

“…In particular, lack of clear roles leads to confusion, tension and potential rivalry in health-care settings (Larking & Callaghan, 2005;Miller et al, 2008). In addition, when interdisciplinary practice is not established in teams, there is a tendency to withdraw into one's own discipline in order to seek support and encouragement rather than dealing with issues (Deady, 2012).…”

“…This is also linked to Lack of meetings, which also emerged in the data. Lack of meetings requires urgent consideration as it is a central priority in the team communication process, that is: members need to engage in face-to-face interactions in order to develop cooperative activities (Larking & Callaghan, 2005).…”

Partnership working: a policy with promise for mental healthcare

“…However, evidence suggests that interprofessional conflicts can occur for a number of reasons. For example, a survey study of 244 community mental health team (CMHT) professionals working in east London explored their perception of interprofessional working within their teams (Larkin & Callaghan, 2005). Most participants believed that they had welldefined roles within their team, but they thought that other professionals within the team did not understand these roles.…”