title: External facilitators and interprofessional facilitation teams: a qualitative study of their roles in supporting practice change.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Facilitation is a powerful approach to support practice change. The purpose of this study is to better understand the facilitation roles exercised by both external facilitators and interprofessional facilitation teams to foster the implementation of change. Building on Dogherty et al.'s taxonomy of facilitation activities, this study uses an organizational development lens to identify and analyze facilitation roles. It includes a concise definition of what interprofessional facilitation teams actually do, thus expanding our limited knowledge of teams that act as change agents. We also investigate the facilitation dynamics between change actors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a qualitative analysis of a 1-year process of practice change implementation. We studied four family medicine groups, in which we constituted interprofessional facilitation teams. Each team was supported by one external facilitator and included at least one family physician, one case manager nurse, and health professionals located on or off the family medicine group's site (one pharmacist, plus at least one nutritionist, kinesiologist, or psychologist). We collected our data through focus group interviews with the four teams, individual interviews with the two external facilitators, and case audit documentation. We analyzed both predetermined (as per Dogherty et al., 2012) and emerging facilitation roles, as well as facilitation dynamics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A non-linear framework of facilitation roles emerged from our data, based on four fields of expertise: change management, project management, meeting management, and group/interpersonal dynamics. We identified 72 facilitation roles, grouped into two categories: "implementation-oriented" and "support-oriented." Each category was subdivided into themes (n = 6; n = 5) for clearer understanding (e.g., legitimation of change/project, management of effective meetings). Finally, an examination of facilitation dynamics revealed eight relational ties occurring within and/or between groups of actors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Facilitation is an approach used by appointed individuals, which teams can also foster, to build capacity and support practice change. Increased understanding of facilitation roles constitutes an asset in training practitioners such as organizational development experts, consultants, facilitators, and facilitation teams. It also helps decision makers become aware of the multiple roles and dynamics involved and the key competencies needed to recruit facilitators and members of interprofessional facilitation teams.
authors.affiliation: HEC Montréal, Montreal, Canada. sylvie.lessard@hec.ca.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lessard
authors.affiliation: HEC Montréal, Montreal, Canada. celine.bareil@hec.ca.|CETO (Center for Research in Organizational Transformation), Pôle Santé, HEC Montréal, Montreal, Canada. celine.bareil@hec.ca.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bareil
authors.affiliation: Primary Care Research Team, Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Laval, Laval, Canada.|CHUM Research Center (CRCHUM), Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.|Sanofi Aventis endowment chair in ambulatory pharmaceutical care, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.|Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Lyne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lalonde
authors.affiliation: Primary Care Research Team, Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Laval, Laval, Canada.|Faculty of Nursing, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Fabie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Duhamel
authors.affiliation: Primary Care Research Team, Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Laval, Laval, Canada.|Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Eveline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hudon
authors.affiliation: Primary Care Research Team, Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Laval, Laval, Canada.|Faculty of Nursing, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: Johanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goudreau
authors.affiliation: Primary Care Research Team, Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Laval, Laval, Canada.
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lévesque
mesh_terms: D017144:Focus Groups; D006282:Health Personnel; D006284:Health Plan Implementation / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010348:Patient Care Team; D024382:Professional Role; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: Change agent; Change implementation; Dynamics; Facilitation; Facilitation team; Roles