Organizational dynamics of interprofessional practice in the Norwegian prison system

ABSTRACT

Reoffending rates may be reduced through efforts to rehabilitate prisoners. A more nuanced understanding is needed of how front-line prison and health care services collaborate during the rehabilitation process. We report an investigation of the organizational dynamics of interprofessional practice among prison, mental health, and welfare services in two Norwegian prison case studies. First, a high security (closed) prison where a coordination network was implemented among prison management, front-line staff, and external service personnel to enhance the prisoners’ life management skills. Second, an (open) transitional residence, where interprofessional practice was facilitated by front-line prison staff to increase prisoners’ ability to reintegrate into society through their socialization and access to external services. The study demonstrates the demands on prisoners as they move from passive service receivers to active service users/organizer, and how interprofessional practice and models of service integration support them in this process.

KEYWORDS:

• Interprofessional practice
• integration
• Norway
• prison
• mental health
• activity theory

Acknowledgments

The first two authors (Dugdale and Lahtinen) have equally contributed as the first author to the production of this article. We are particularly grateful to the professionals and contributors of the Correctional Services in Norway for their time and collaboration for this study.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Commission Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (MSCA-RISE) [Grant ID: 734536].

Notes on contributors

William Dugdale

William Dugdale is a BSc (Hons) Criminology and Master of Research in Social Science graduate with expertise on the rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates across European prison systems. He worked for 3 years within the England and Wales prison system at HMP Bure and HMP Norwich, where he was responsible for providing rehabilitative and reintegrative support to inmates. He also undertook a research traineeship at Associazione Antigone in Rome, Italy focusing on de-radicalisation across prison systems in Europe for the European Prison Observatory. William is a COLAB member and has been awarded his PhD at Bournemouth University, UK that explored interprofessional collaborative practice in the Norwegian prison system.

Päivikki Lahtinen

Päivikki Lahtinen is a Master of Education and a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. She is an expert on adult education and cultural-historical activity theory. Currently she is an adviser of organizational learning and co-creation at the University of Agder, Norway. She is a researcher in COLAB and her research especially focuses on co-creation, interorganisational collaboration, collective learning and social innovation.

Anu Kajamaa

Anu Kajamaa is an Associate Professor and the principle investigator at the University of Helsinki; Finland, in an EU Horizon2020-MSCA-RISE (COLAB) project. She is also a co-leader of the Learning, Culture and Interventions (LECI) research community at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. She has conducted socio-cultural and activity-theoretical research and intervention projects in schools, teacher education, health care, social care and entrepreneurship contexts and published about 60 papers in international journals.

Sarah Hean

Sarah Heanis a Professor of Social Work at the University of Stavanger; Norway and Professor of Social Sciences at the Bournemouth University, UK with expertise in interprofessional education and collaborative practice between the mental health and criminal justice systems. She has completed a Marie Curie Sklodowska (MSCA) individual fellowship in interagency practices and is currently principal investigator and coordinator of the COLAB consortium, an MSCA RISE programme aiming to improve collaborations between criminal justice and welfare services.