The 43rd Vernon-Wall Lecture: What working relationally brings to problem-solving

Area of Science:

• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Complex Problem-Solving
• Cultural-Historical Theory

Background:

• Complex problems necessitate cross-disciplinary collaboration between practitioners and clients.
• Problems can be 'discovered' (addressed with existing knowledge) or 'created' (requiring new knowledge generation).
• Research explored interprofessional dynamics, motive alignment, and expertise in complex problem-solving.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate processes in successful practitioner-client collaborations.
• To explore what occurs at the intersection of practices when addressing complex problems.
• To examine how motives align and expertise is utilized in collaborative work.

Main Methods:

• Case studies of 'created problems' including app development for autistic individuals and interprofessional working evaluations.
• Analysis of emergent interprofessional working in English children's services.
• Application of cultural-historical approaches to human development.

Main Results:

• Identified three relational concepts: relational expertise, common knowledge, and relational agency.
• Relational expertise builds shared understanding of participant motives, mediating collaboration.
• Relational agency emerges from collaboration, strengthening practitioner and client actions.

Conclusions:

• Relational concepts provide a framework for training in interprofessional work and enhancing client agency.
• These concepts offer researchers tools for studying collaborations.
• Cultural-historical research methods effectively capture collaborative concepts within practice.