A survey of ‘teamwork’ in mental health: is it achievable in practice?

Stark, Sheila, Skidmore, David, Warne, Tony and Stronach, Ian (2002) A survey of ‘teamwork’ in mental health: is it achievable in practice? British journal of nursing, 11 (3). pp. 178-186. ISSN 0966-0461

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Abstract

As part of an ENB educational evaluation of teamworking in mental health, a report-and-respond survey was used as one of five data collection methods. This instrument disseminated earlier findings back to the participants and invited further comments. This article discusses the usefulness of this type of survey as a data collection tool and presents the findings of the survey which was administered to service professionals, educationalists, students, users and carers involved in mental health throughout England. The findings show that when groups of professionals are working within increasingly tight financial constraints and increased workloads, multiprofessional teamworking can be scarce in reality. These tensions present issues for nurse education and training at both pre- and postregistration levels in relation to the teaching of, for and about effective teamwork.