Effectiveness of Teamwork in an Integrated Care Setting for Patients with COPD: Development and Testing of a Self-Evaluation Instrument for Interprofessional Teams.
BACKGROUND
Teamwork between healthcare providers is conditional for the delivery of integrated care. This study aimed to assess the usefulness of the conceptual framework Integrated Team Effectiveness Model for developing and testing of the Integrated Team Effectiveness Instrument.


METHODS
Focus groups with healthcare providers in an integrated care setting for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were conducted to examine the recognisability of the conceptual framework and to explore critical success factors for collaborative COPD practice out of this framework. The resulting items were transposed into a pilot instrument. This was reviewed by expert opinion and completed 153 times by healthcare providers. The underlying structure and internal consistency of the instrument were verified by factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha.


RESULTS
The conceptual framework turned out to be comprehensible for discussing teamwork effectiveness. The pilot instrument measures 25 relevant aspects of teamwork in integrated COPD care. Factor analysis suggested three reliable components: teamwork effectiveness, team processes and team psychosocial traits (Cronbach's alpha between 0.76 and 0.81).


CONCLUSIONS
The conceptual framework Integrated Team Effectiveness Model is relevant in developing a practical full-spectrum instrument to facilitate discussing teamwork effectiveness. The Integrated Team Effectiveness Instrument provides a well-founded basis to self-evaluate teamwork effectiveness in integrated COPD care by healthcare providers. Recommendations are provided for the improvement of the instrument.
Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Social Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Anneke N
AN
Van Dijk-de Vries
Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Patient & Care, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Inge G P
IG
Duimel-Peeters
Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Jean W
JW
Muris
Department of Respiratory Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Geertjan J
GJ
Wesseling
Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Patient & Care, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
George H M I
GH
Beusmans
Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore; Department Patient & Care, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.
Hubertus J M
HJ
Vrijhoef
Teamwork; instrument; integrated care; psychometric properties; self-evaluation