Why is it so confusing and difficult? Perceptions by health and social care professionals on developing and implementing models for collaboration

Introduction: Many situations in health and social care for older adults require collaboration between different
departments within municipalities to ensure seamless and good care with the older person in focus.
However, many professionals find collaboration to be a difficult and confusing process. Hence,
municipalities often support it by developing and implementing models for collaboration. This study
aimed to explore health and social care professionals’ perceptions of collaboration models, as well as
what difficulties they perceived in developing and implementing them in a municipality.
Methods: Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with professionals working in a Swedish
municipality and analysed using inductive content analysis.
Results: The professionals’ responses illustrated variations in perceptions ofwhat constitutes a collaboration
model, i.e., core values, a framework, a process, or a function and why collaboration models are needed,
i.e. for the good of the resident, for the good of the organisation, or for the good of society. Furthermore,
several perceived difficulties in developing and implementing collaboration models were captured.
Conclusions: The varied perceptions of collaboration models, together with the captured difficulties, help explain why
models for collaboration are seen as confusing and difficult to develop and implement. This study can
increase healthcare management and professionals’ understanding of the complexity of collaboration
models and assist future development and implementation of these kinds of models in health and social
care for older adults.