Unlocking the Paradox of Intercultural Collaboration in Integrated Community Care: An Interpersonal Dialogue

Intercultural collaboration in integrated community care faces a paradox. Some view community care as a 'local craft', intimately embedded within its socio-cultural context, and therefore it cannot be exported. Others view it as 'interventions' that are transferable and scalable, like other health innovations. This article proposes a middle-ground approach, highlighting the role of interpersonal relationships as a foundation for intercultural collaboration in integrated community care.

Over a five-year period, we pursued an intercultural collaboration between two integrated community care initiatives in Canada and Japan. Both initiatives are grounded in the principles of community empowerment, linkages across health and social care, and complementarity of lived experience and professional knowledge. Our collaboration evolved in three interrelated phases: 1) intercultural discovery and exploration; 2) intercultural relationship-building and strengthening; and 3) intercultural explicitation and influence.

While the implementation science literature largely focuses on cognitive processes of knowledge exchange, our experience highlights deeper relational dimensions that are essential to intercultural learning and impact across community care initiatives, including socialisation among collaborators, beyond their professional roles and identities.

Relational and socialisation processes should be recognised, nurtured and valued as integral components of intercultural collaborative efforts in integrated community care. Knowledge gained from this experience can inform cross-cultural efforts to support the global integrated community care movement.