Factors that Influence Co-production among Student Interns, Consumers, and Providers of Social and Public Health Services: Implications for Interprofessional Collaboration and Training

ABSTRACT

Providers of public health and social services (“providers”) develop and deliver services by engaging in interprofessional collaboration (IPC), from seeking external advice to making referrals and linkages to various social and public health services. Providers collaborate with consumers of social and public health services (“consumers”) and student interns (e.g., social work, public health) to explore, determine, and deliver relevant services through a process referred to as co-production. Both IPC and co-production are widespread strategies with the potential to improve service accessibility and quality. However, the intersection of co-production and IPC remains understudied. This study examines factors that influence co-production in IPC among service providers, consumers, and student interns. We used cross-sectional survey data from an NIMH-funded study, including 379 providers in 36 HIV-service organizations in New York City. We examined the relationships between providers’ perspectives on co-production in IPC and multiple provider- and organization-level variables using random-effects logistic regression. Most respondents said that consumers and students in their agency participate in IPC on the issues that concern them. Providers who perceive greater flexibility in the IPC process were more likely to agree that their organizations’ providers co-produced IPC. Organizational service offerings (i.e., multilingual services, a comprehensive range of services), job positions, and full-time employment status were strong predictors of co-production. Our findings indicate that intentional and inclusive models of flexible IPC are needed. Fostering co-production in the HIV service field requires more institutional support and incentives for organizations, providers, and student interns. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-production
• service consumer
• student intern
• interprofessional collaboration
• social and health services
• HIV/AIDS

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R01MH095676). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the US Department of Health and Human Services or NIHM.