Negotiating collaborative agreements: Interprofessional collaboration in a Norwegian welfare context

Interprofessional collaboration among welfare services is a policy objective promoted to ensure successful service provision to people with complex needs. In the Nordic region, people who are not in education, employment, or training often have challenging life situations requiring help from a multitude of services. In Norway, significant political and institutional efforts focus on implementing policies that support collaboration. However, we know little about how service workers formalize joint efforts. In this study, I used institutional ethnography to explore how interprofessional collaboration was constructed through negotiations of collaborative agreements among leaders of welfare services and how such negotiations are consequential for collaborative practices. I explored two cases of negotiations initiated by the leader of the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration. The negotiations were with the local child welfare and protection services and Refugee services, focusing on the transition of care regarding youth and refugees. The data includes two collaborative agreements between the services, an observation of the negotiation of one agreement, and 10 interviews with leaders and staff. Results show that collaboration is constructed based on holistic service provision. The negotiations, however, do not result in such collaborative practices, but are characterized by the demarcation of responsibilities and work.