Supporting first-time parents in their homes: an informal setting enabling interprofessional collaboration

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Work
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Home visiting programs are expanding globally to support parents and improve child health.
• These programs utilize interprofessional teams, but professionals' boundary work in home settings is understudied.
• This study examines boundary work in Swedish home visiting teams for first-time parents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how professionals in interprofessional home visiting teams perform boundary work to enable collaboration.
• To investigate contextual conditions that facilitate this boundary work.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve professionals from child healthcare nursing, midwifery, social work, and dental hygiene.
• Content analysis was applied to explore the professionals' boundary work.

Main Results:

• Professionals clarified distinct roles while viewing differences as complementary.
• They humbly shared knowledge and perspectives, blurring boundaries to accommodate overlapping expertise.
• Pre-visit meetings, post-visit discussions, and the informal home setting were crucial for success.

Conclusions:

• Interprofessional collaboration in home settings is facilitated by boundary work, especially in informal environments.
• This collaboration enhances holistic family support and reinforces the value of home visiting programs for first-time parents.