Studying multidisciplinary teams in the Irish Republic: the conceptual wrangle

This paper addresses the conceptual wrangle that occurred during the initial stages of a grounded theory doctoral study into the nature of moral distress within multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) working within the acute mental health services in the Republic of Ireland.

While grounded theory methodology directs that face sheet data (biographical details) are not collected unless they emerge as significant events within the data, practitioners within this study were asked to describe the structure, formulation, and practice of their team prior to interview, in order to establish the field of study.

Early analysis of the responses revealed that of 32 multidisciplinary members interviewed, none agreed on structure, formulation, and practice of their MDT.

This finding suggests that caution needs to be taken in assuming a common understanding of the concept of MDT in research, policy formation, and team development.