Incorporating professionalism and professional identity matters

– a cultural-theoretical study of interdisciplinary teams within home care

Sammendrag

Denmark and other European welfare states are currently experimenting with different versions of interdisciplinary teams in home care. This shift from a multidisciplinary towards an inter- or transdisciplinary organization can be seen as a political and administrative response to the challenges posed by a growing elderly population and a shortage of professionals in home care.

Based on a cultural-theoretical approach and fieldwork in three Danish municipalities, this study explores the research question: How is collaboration practiced in interdisciplinary teams in home care in the shift from a multidisciplinary towards an inter- or transdisciplinary organization - and how is the professionals’ professionalism and professional identity perceived within the interdisciplinary team structure? The professional groups involved in the interdisciplinary teams include social and healthcare helpers and assistants, nurses, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists, as well as leaders and planners.

The purpose of this study is to provide knowledge about organization, collaboration, professionalism, and professional identity within interdisciplinary teams that can qualify and support the development of organizational structures and collaborative practices in home care.

This cultural-theoretical study uncovers three municipalities’ conditions and frameworks for solving the task at hand and, through fieldwork, closely explores the different ways they organize home care and interdisciplinary teams. “The Eight-Theme-Interdisciplinary-Model” is thereby presented with themes that call for attention within interdisciplinary team collaboration. The themes are Wholeness and Continuity, Legislation, Interdisciplinarity, Professionalism, Leadership, Technologies, Planners, and Time and Space.

The study’s findings are analyzed in a cultural-theoretical perspective, discussing their relevance in Denmark and internationally in the future development of organization and collaboration in home care for municipalities and the professional groups.