A qualitative exploration of communication within the community mental health team

Abstract

This qualitative study sought to explore conceptual models employed by community mental health team (CMHT) staff in the care of their clients and how CMHT clinicians communicated with one another, particularly in relation to complex clinical work. The qualitative method of interpretive phenomenological analysis was used, and semistructured in-depth interviews with seven UK CMHT clinicians were conducted and analyzed. Four themes were evident in the data and showed that clinicians face complex and competing demands and draw on a range of therapeutic models in their work. It was also clear that much discussion centred primarily on pragmatic issues and lacked conceptual depth. The results underline the complex and challenging nature of CMHT work and suggest that a more systematic approach to interdisciplinary training within teams could be beneficial in increasing clinicians' knowledge, skills, and their understanding of the conceptual models used across different disciplines.

Models of care delivery in mental health nursing practice: a mixed method study

“…As well, additional exploration of the role of the nurse within the multidisciplinary team and the influence of postgraduate education on developing alternative conceptual models to underpin contemporary care delivery is indicated. These areas of foci are supported by the findings of the recently published study of Donnison et al . (2009) which uncovered the complex and challenging nature of community mental health work and pointed to the need for further research to explore understandings of conceptual models across disciplines and approaches to community mental health team work.…”

Communication With Colleagues: Frequency of Collaboration Regarding Physical Health of Consumers With Mental Illness

“…It was encouraging to see, at least from the point of view of community‐based nurses, that their perceived direct interaction with GPs on physical health issues is common. The lower frequency of physical health discussions with GPs for inpatient nurses is likely explained by the priority inpatient nurses give to immediate needs related to crisis response and symptom management (Cleary, ), the fragmentation between inpatient and community services (Donnison et al., ), and ambivalence about whether physical health care is part of the mental health nursing role (Happell, Scott, et al., ). By nature of their role, community nurses interact more frequently with primary healthcare services including GPs (Henderson et al., ).…”

“…However, trials of nurse‐based care tend to be localized and the day‐to‐day collaboration in mental healthcare settings between nurses and their healthcare colleagues is not addressed. Inpatient nursing is characterized by uncertainties in many aspects of the professional role, lack of resources, and different principles of care (Cleary, ), and nurse experiences in community mental health are very similar (Donnison, Thompson, & Turpin, ; Henderson, Willis, Walter, & Toffoli, ). These work environments may limit how much nurses examine physical health issues of consumers with SMI and communicate with their colleagues about these issues.…”

After you’d gone

“…This makes it ideally suited to investigating topics where there is little existing research. Qualitative research methods have been used successfully in previous studies of communication and relationships within CMHTs (Donnison et al, 2009) and other health care teams (Propp et al, 2010).…”