Professional Boundary Crossing and Interprofessional Knowledge Development

A significant trait of modern societies is the organizational specialization of welfare services which has intensified an increased professionalization, as in number of professionals involved in the production of welfare... [ view full abstract ]

A significant trait of modern societies is the organizational specialization of welfare services which has intensified an increased professionalization, as in number of professionals involved in the production of welfare services. The growing specialization and professionalization, which on one hand has led to more advanced services, has also resulted in fragmentation and need for coordination between services in order to provide adequate and holistic efforts when responding to service users’ complex needs. Today the service delivery system is faced with problems concerning the division of labor, collaboration, maintenance and development of staff competence, and improvement of service effectiveness and outcomes. Specialization often necessitates collaboration between different groups in order to achieve a comprehensive view of citizens’ often complex problems.

The growing trend towards the development of boundary- crossing and interprofessional services has been common particularly between health and social services. Although there has been a demand for collaboration the last 30 years, the knowledge area is still undertheorized and little attention has been made on analyzing knowledge development. This paper explores how interprofessional knowledge is developed in two cases in the field of child welfare in Norway and Finland. We chose the two cases to illuminate innovative knowledge production processes in professional practices on one hand and the complex boundary crossings professionals are involved with. They both represent the field of child and adolescence. The first case scrutinizes initial collaboration with young people at risk and analyzes how professionals and organizations collaborate in improving the initial collaboration practices. The other case on young children with ADHD/Asperger focuses on how professionals discuss their conception and responsibilities in dealing with families and children in need. The cases are analyzed and reflected on with focus on the interdependent relationship between boundary crossing and knowledge development.