title: All professionals are equal but some professionals are more equal than others? Dominance, status and efficiency in Swedish interprofessional teams.
abstract: This study explored status differences in interprofessional teams and their link with efficiency. In total, 62 teams (423 individuals) from occupational health-care, psychiatry, rehabilitation and school health-care responded to a questionnaire. Fifty-four of those teams (360 individuals) also participated in an observation session simulating problem-solving team meetings. Data were reduced to a number of indexes: self-assessed/perceived equality, functional influence and efficiency; and observed verbal dominance/activity and problem-solving capacity. Perceived status differences within the teams appeared moderate, irrespective of professional belonging. With respect to verbal dominance during meetings, however, the findings revealed a hierarchy with psychologists, physicians and social workers at the top together with special education teachers. No relationship was found between self-assessed efficiency and actual problem-solving nor between observed verbal activity and problem-solving. The findings suggest that different problems may demand different prerequisites to be solved effectively: successful solving of simple convergent problems correlated negatively with equality, whereas functional influence was a predictor of success with respect to divergent, complex problem-solving. The findings raise questions about leadership and procedures during team meetings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden. ingela.thylefors@psy.gu.se
authors.forename: Ingela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Thylefors
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011340:Problem Solving; D011361:Professional Competence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden