Improving interprofessional teamwork in a community mental health team: a team building circle program based on the restorative justice paradigm

ABSTRACT

Improving teamwork among mental health practitioners is crucial. However, there have been few intervention studies on teamwork enhancement among community mental health practitioners in South Korea. We aimed to determine the effectiveness of the Team Building Circle program (TBC) based on the restorative justice paradigm, which sought to promote integration and cohesion. The TBC was developed to improve conflict interpretation mind-set, interpersonal skills, and teamwork among practitioners in community mental health centers. We conducted a quasi-experimental study using a pre and posttest design with a non-equivalent control group. The participants were 44 practitioners from four community mental health centers. Data were collected before the implementation TBC (pretest), just after (posttest), and 3 months after TBC (follow-up test). A generalized estimating equation model was used for analysis. Our findings indicate that the intervention group had improved scores in the ability to cope with interpersonal stress in a constructive way, interpersonal relationship skills, and teamwork compared to the control group. To improve teamwork among community mental health practitioners, managers are encouraged to consider providing TBC intervention.

KEYWORDS:

• Circle process
• community mental health
• conflict interpretation mind-set
• interpersonal skill
• interprofessional teamwork
• restorative justice

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the community mental health center staff for participating in the TBC.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No.2017R1A2B1010925).

Notes on contributors

Hyo Kyung Kim

Hyo Kyung Kim is a PhD student in the Department of Nursing Science at the Graduate School of Hallym University and also serves as a lecturer at the School of Nursing in Hallym University, South Korea. Her interests include community nursing, healthy communication and ageism in healthcare.

Bal Hee Lee

Balhee Lee is a registered nurse, senior researcher at the Community Conflict Transformation Center (CCTC) at Hallym University, and a social worker in South Korea. She has been involved in practicing restorative justice activities for a long time. In the medical field, she has focused on facilitating smooth communication between mentally ill individuals and their families. And she is also interested in preventing burnout among nurses.

Kyoung A Nam

Kyoung A Nam is a professor at the School of Nursing, Hallym University, South Korea. She is a registered nurse, whose interests include psychiatric rehabilitation of people with mental illness and community mental health nursing.