Interdisciplinary collaboration, communication patterns and personality characteristics within milieu teams in a children's psychiatric hospital.

Abstract

This study examined thirty interdisciplinary teams operating as a therapeutic milieu within a children's psychiatric hospital. The research design was of a non-manipulative field study using self-report measures. To guide the study, several research questions were explored, including (1) Do treatment teams differ from one another on their level of reported collaboration? (2) Does the level of reported collaboration vary with respect to the perceived team environment or the nature of reported communication patterns? (3) Are the perceived team environment, level of collaboration and communication patterns related to either member discipline or personality type variables? Six hypotheses and two exploratory questions were formulated as the basis of the study. The results indicated that it was possible to differentiate teams reporting high, medium and low rates of collaboration according to an Interdisciplinary Collaboration Scale. Furthermore, teams reporting high collaboration rates were significantly different from low teams in the degree of positiveness of their evaluation of the team process. Although directional trends were found, there was no significant difference among team types with respect to the incidence or type of intra-team communication. A majority (75.4%) of team members were perceived as conforming to a particular group personality profile outlined in the System for Multiple Level Observation of Groups (SYMLOG) developed by R.F. Bales (1979). No significant difference in reported collaboration was found with respect to discipline status, patient diagnosis or actual member size of the team. The results were analyzed in terms of the organizational structure and psychological work climate of the investigated facility. The results provide evidence that it is possible to delineate operational conditions under which interdisciplinary teams function. Generalizability and significance of the results with respect to similar facilities are discussed and several avenues of future research are suggested.