Professionals' perceptions of interprofessional working in community mental health teams

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.