• Niall McCrae, Sube Banerjee, Joanna Murray, Sue Prior, and Ann Marisa Silverman.
• Health Services Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. n.mccrae@iop.kcl.ac.uk
• J Nurs Manag. 2008 Sep 1; 16 (6): 734-43.

BackgroundDespite the expanding deployment of support workers in mental health services, little evidence exists on what managers and professional practitioners should expect of such staff in community settings.AimsThis case study evaluated the introduction of support workers in community mental health teams for older adults.MethodA multiple method design engaged support workers and professional colleagues in individual interviews, a focus group and a work satisfaction survey.ResultsWhile the new resource boosted service provision, disparity between the intended role and the assumptions of professional practitioners caused confusion and dissatisfaction.ConclusionsThe study highlights the need for managers to ensure role clarity when non-professional workers are introduced into multidisciplinary community teams.Implications For Nursing ManagementPromoting diversity of skills in the mental health workforce is a progressive move in tuning services to the heterogenous needs of clients in the community. However, introducing unqualified workers into multi-disciplinary teams necessitates clear guidance to prevent their activity being confined within existing professional models. Support workers offer much potential in innovative service delivery.

31 keywords...

hide…