The concept of collaborative health

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Organizational Psychology
• Health Management

Background:

• Teamwork is central to human service organizations, yet its impact on employee health is complex.
• Existing research on psychosocial stress and burnout doesn't fully capture the interplay between team dynamics and health.
• A holistic approach is needed to understand how individual health resources are utilized and affected within teamwork.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and define the concept of collaborative health (CH).
• To explore the reciprocal relationship between teamwork and the physical, psychological, and social health of team members.
• To propose collaborative health as a foundational concept for a holistic team theory in human service organizations.

Main Methods:

• Empirical research on teamwork within Swedish human service organizations.
• Conceptual analysis from a social constructionism perspective.
• Discussion and relation to existing concepts like psychosocial stress and burnout.

Main Results:

• Identified and defined collaborative health (CH) as the health resources individuals use and are influenced by in teamwork.
• Established that teamwork affects team members' health, which subsequently impacts teamwork and its outcomes.
• Introduced functional synergy, defined as the combination of goal-orientation and synergy in teamwork.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative health (CH) is a crucial concept for understanding the health implications of teamwork.
• The proposed concept offers a new lens for analyzing the complex interactions within teams.
• CH can enhance the understanding of collaborative and co-operative teamwork in contemporary human service organizations.