What do we think about them and what do they think about us? Social representations of interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration in the welfare sector

Professionals in healthcare, social services, and schools often collaborate when addressing children and adolescents with complex psychosocial needs. Based on theory of social representations, we investigated how professionals in the mentioned organizations perceived each other through their experiences of collaboration. Twenty-nine unit managers and 35 staff members were interviewed in 12 focus groups, and the data collected were subjected to content analysis. Most social representations indicated complex and problematic interprofessional collaboration, although some were positive in nature. We also found social representations regarding ignorance of each other's organizations, distrust, unavailability, and uncommunicativeness. Conceptions of the other party's way of thinking appeared to include adverse attitudes and low expectations from the other side. Concurrently, there was mutual understanding of the limited room to maneuver and heavy workloads. The professionals' perceptions reflected frustration and ambivalence, and also indicated that dialogue was prevented by established boundaries and low expectations. We conclude that arenas are needed for productive dialogue and exchange of relevant knowledge in such collaborative systems, and that management should enable staff to collaborate based on the existing boundaries.