Abstract
In recent years, the subject of integrated healthcare, including the integration of behavioral health services into primary care, within the healthcare field has been increasingly of interest to researchers, providers, and policy makers. However, little is known about the experiences of providers within integrated care and the impact of these experiences on inter-professional relationships and collaboration. The researchers aimed to explore differences in providers’ perspectives, including inter-professional collaboration and overall job satisfaction, by provider type and level of integration. The current study uses a mixed method exploratory approach, gathering both qualitative and quantitative data to investigate the perspectives of providers (both psychologists and physicians) on their work together. This study included 30 psychologists and 30 primary care physicians from three levels of healthcare integration (traditional/coordinated, co-located, and integrated). As hypothesized, results indicated that providers in integrated settings were the most satisfied with their collaboration with other providers. Furthermore, the providers’ narratives revealed promising insights which contribute to a broader understanding of how to improve the relationships between psychologists and primary care physicians in integrated healthcare and other settings.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all research participants for their generous contributions of time and effort. The authors would also like to thank the following lab members and research assistants who contributed to this project: Brianna Driscoll, Kylie Steinhilber, and Natasha Ramanayake.
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The authors disclosed the receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Suffolk University and received a Graduate Student Research Award from the Society for Health Psychology, American Psychological Association Division 38.
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Jenesse E. Kaitz and Sukanya Ray declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Kaitz, J.E., Ray, S. Psychologist and Physician Inter-Professional Collaborative Experiences in Primary Care Integration. J Clin Psychol Med Settings 28, 436–446 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-020-09733-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-020-09733-5