Hean Sarah, Ødegård Atle, Willumsen Elisabeth
University of Stavanger , Stavanger, Norway.
Bournemouth University , Bournemouth, UK.
Int J Prison Health. 2017 Jun 12;13(2):91-104. doi: 10.1108/IJPH-12-2016-0072.
Purpose Interprofessional collaboration is necessary when supporting mentally ill offenders but little is understood of these interactions. The purpose of this paper is to explore prison officers' perceptions of current and desirable levels of interprofessional collaboration (relational coordination (RC)) to understand how collaboration between these systems can be improved. Design/methodology/approach Gittell's RC scale was administered to prison officers within the Norwegian prison system ( n=160) using an adaptation of the instrument in which actual and desired levels of RC are evaluated. This differentiates between prison officers' expectations of optimum levels of collaboration with other professional groups, dependent on the role function and codependence, vs actual levels of collaboration. Findings Prison officers reported different RC levels across professional groups, the lowest being with specialist mental health staff and prison doctors and highest with nurses, social workers and other prison officers. Significant differences between desired and actual RC levels suggest expertise of primary care staff is insufficient, as prison officers request much greater contact with mental health specialists when dealing with the mentally ill offender. Originality/value The paper contributes to limited literature on collaborative practice between prison and health care professionals. It questions the advisability of enforcing care pathways that promote the lowest level of effective care in the prison system and suggest ways in which mental health specialists might be better integrated into the prison system. It contributes to the continued debate on how mental health services should be integrated into the prison system, suggesting that the current import model used in Norway and other countries, may not be conducive to generating the close professional relationships required between mental health and prison staff.
目的 在支持患有精神疾病的罪犯时，跨专业协作是必要的，但对于这些互动的了解却很少。本文的目的是探讨狱警对当前及理想的跨专业协作水平（关系协调（RC））的看法，以了解如何改善这些系统之间的协作。
设计/方法/途径 使用Gittell的RC量表对挪威监狱系统内的狱警（n = 160）进行施测，该量表采用了一种改编形式，用于评估RC的实际水平和期望水平。这区分了狱警根据角色功能和相互依存关系对与其他专业群体的最佳协作水平的期望与实际协作水平。
发现 狱警报告称不同专业群体的RC水平存在差异，与精神卫生专业人员和监狱医生的协作水平最低，与护士、社会工作者和其他狱警的协作水平最高。期望的和实际的RC水平之间的显著差异表明基层医疗人员的专业知识不足，因为狱警在处理患有精神疾病的罪犯时要求与精神卫生专家有更多接触。
原创性/价值 本文为关于监狱和医疗保健专业人员之间协作实践的有限文献做出了贡献。它质疑了在监狱系统中推行促进最低有效护理水平的护理路径的可取性，并提出了将精神卫生专家更好地融入监狱系统的方法。它有助于持续讨论如何将精神卫生服务融入监狱系统，表明挪威和其他国家目前采用的引入模式可能不利于产生精神卫生和监狱工作人员之间所需的密切专业关系。
