Developing inter-disciplinary and inter-agency networks: reflections on a “community of practice” approach
Abstract
Purpose
People with a dual diagnosis or other multiple and complex needs often require support from a range of services and agencies. Social policy has focused on achieving an integrated response from practitioners; however, service responses to this group frequently remain fragmented. Practitioners supporting these clients are likely to need knowledge drawn from multiple disciplines and awareness of complex and changing services. Research suggests the value of professional networks for knowledge transfer. The purpose of this paper is to describe one's approach to supporting integration and facilitating knowledge exchange through the development of “communities of practice”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes a “communities of practice” model, as implemented by researchers from King's College London and Revolving Doors Agency through their Communities of Practice Development Programme. It outlines potential benefits of the model – identified through focus groups and survey responses of members, facilitator interviews and the authors’ observations as community of practice members. Finally, it discusses challenges and limitations of this approach.
Findings
Communities of practice are able to provide a forum for peer support and supervision to mediate feelings of role or service isolation and to sustain practitioner motivation. They can also facilitate inter-disciplinary and inter-agency knowledge transfer. However, the limited resources available to these local networks act as a barrier to developing their capacity to improve responses to people with multiple and complex needs.
Originality/value
The paper uses a case study approach to outline the potential for a “communities of practice” approach to be used to improve responses to people with multiple and complex needs.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the organisations which hosted the communities of practice, the facilitators, the community of practice participants, the advisory group members and staff of Revolving Doors Agency who have supported this work. They would also like to thank the programme funders, the Economic and Social Research Council. However, the views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic and Social Research Council.
Citation
E. Anderson, S., Hennessy, C., Cornes, M. and Manthorpe, J. (2013), "Developing inter-disciplinary and inter-agency networks: reflections on a “community of practice” approach", Advances in Dual Diagnosis, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 132-144. https://doi.org/10.1108/ADD-05-2013-0013
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited