Fostering Behavioural Change Towards Integrated Care - a Multi-Team Case Study in Specialised Youth Services.

Abstract

Introduction: Integrated care is crucial in delivering coherent and coordinated support to families with multiple and complex problems. Reorienting care organisations towards integrated care is a complex organisational change process. It requires both structural and behavioural adjustments. To learn about effective practice, it is useful to study implementation between contexts.

Description: This mixed methods case study provides a comparison over time of five regional teams simultaneously implementing an integrated care delivery mode. Group interviews identified whether and how different elements in the change approach helped or hindered the change progress.

Discussion: We describe and discuss how the teams were guided and supported in learning to make the behavioural switches associated with their new integrated mode of operation.

Conclusion: Our support-interventions appeared to be largely successful in fostering four pre-defined integrated care behaviours. This research took place during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was challenging but also brought unexpected benefits.