Att arbeta i ett tvärprofessionellt team : Hur ett ökat samarbete med olika yrkesgrupper har påverkathemtjänstpersonalens yrkesidentitet

A multi professional team use different professional skills to a specific target. The people in the team complement each other to achieve the best performance possible. Professional identity is a mix between the professional and personal identity. Social identities, like professional identity, is a product of social categorization and social comparison. The purpose of this study was to examine how increased cooperation in cross-disciplinary teams has affected the professional identity of home care staff. The method I used to gather my material were focus groups with home care staff in relation to their workplace. Five focus groups were conducted and formed the basis of the results. I used parts of and got inspired from the hermeneutic approach in the analysis of my empirical findings. The results were interpreted by the social identity theory and the concepts of identity, professional identity and the dual task. The results show that home care staff finds it difficult to describe what their role is in the profession. The team's work has affected the staff to feel stronger in their profession and occupation. They have been able to learn from the other team members and have got a deeper understanding of the other team member’s profession. They also believe that the home care staff group has become more of a united group now that they know more about each other's work, work more equal and have more discussions within the group. Home care staff professional identity has been influenced, as all work within the team goes toward a common explicit goal. This has made stronger professional identity within the group and they can identify themselves more with each other. The teams work towards the common goal has also contributed to that they experience cooperation, understanding and affinity with the other team members. This has broadened their professional identity and they have become part of a new group - the team