A heuristic model for collaborative practice - Part 1: a meta-synthesis of empirical findings on collaborative strategies in community mental health and substance abuse practice.

BACKGROUND: Collaboration has become a cornerstone for healthcare practice in recent decades resulting in the efforts at international and national levels to integrate the concept into healthcare practice and services. However, there is a paucity of research delineating strategies for professionals to apply in collaborative practice with clients in general as well as in mental health and substance abuse (MHSA) care. METHODS: The method applied in this paper is a form of qualitative meta-synthesis referring to the integration of findings from multiple qualitative studies within a program of research by the same investigators. Eighteen empirical papers with the focus on community MHSA practice and recovery-orientation with relevance to the service user-professional relationship in MHSA practice were included in this meta-synthesis. RESULTS: Three types of processes of collaboration specified by meta-themes were identified. The meta-themes of the interactive-dialogical process type include (a) maintaining human relationship, (b) walking alongside, (c) information sharing, (d) seizing the present moment, (e) taking the perspective of the other, and (f) aligning/scaffolding. The meta-themes of the negotiated-participatory engagement type include (a) feedback-informing process, (b) putting differences to work, (c) negotiated partnering, (d) accommodating user participation, and (e) addressing the tension between help and control. The meta-themes of the negotiated supportive process type are (a) helping in context, (b) coordinating, (c) pulling together, (d) advocating, and (e) availing. These meta-themes are strategies for collaboration applicable in MHSA practice. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-synthesis of collaborative processes found in community mental health practice points to the possibility of developing a set of repertoires of practice for service user/professional collaboration, especially in community MHSA practice.

A heuristic model for collaborative practice-part 2: development of the collaborative, dialogue-based clinical practice model for community mental health and substance abuse care.

BACKGROUND: Various models for collaborative practice in mental health care incorporating the perspectives of service-user participation and collaboration in the care have been developed. However, the emphasis in these practice models has not been on identifying specific features of "how" collaboration and service-user participation can occur and be nurtured. This suggests a need for a collaborative practice model that specifies essential strategies operationalizing the tenets of service-user participation and collaboration applicable in mental health and substance abuse (MHSA) care. METHODS: A double helix approach of coalescing theoretical ideas and empirical findings to develop a practice model that is applicable in MHSA practice. A theoretical analysis is carried out to identify the critical, foundational elements for collaborative practice in MHSA practice, and has identified the philosophical-theoretical orientations of Habermas' theory of communicative action, Bakhtin's dialogicality, and the philosophy of personhood as the foundational features of collaboration. This base is juxtaposed with the results of a qualitative meta-analysis of 18 empirical articles on collaboration in MHSA to advance a collaborative practice model specifically in the domain of service user/professional collaboration. RESULTS: "The collaborative, dialogue-based clinical practice model" (CDCP Model) for community mental health care is proposed, within the structure of four main components. The first specifies the framework for practice that includes person-centered care, recovery-orientation, and a pluralistic orientation and the second identifies the domains of collaboration as service user/professional collaboration, inter-professional collaboration, and service sector collaboration. The third identifies self-understanding, mutual understanding, and shared decision-making as the essential principles of collaboration. The fourth specifies interactive-dialogic processes, negotiated-participatory engagement processes, and negotiated-supportive processes as the essential strategies of collaboration applicable in service user/professional collaboration which were extracted in the empirical work. An illustration of the CDCP Model in a clinical case is given. CONCLUSIONS: The CDCP Model presented fills the gap that exists in the field of community MHSA practice regarding how to operationalize systematically the tenets of person-centeredness, recovery-oriented, and pluralism-oriented practice in terms of user/professional collaboration.