Community Participation in Health: Benefits & Teamwork
Community Participation in Health: Developed vs. Developing Countries
Community participation is aimed at promoting health and reducing social inequalities. In developed countries, the focus is often on optimizing existing systems, while in developing countries, it’s about building foundational health infrastructure. In Spain, the General Health Law of 1986 emphasized community participation, mandating that Health Councils comprise 50% community representatives, 25% union representatives, and 25% health administration representatives.
Advantages and Barriers to Community Participation
Benefits for the Community
- Promotion of an active role in maintaining and recovering health.
- Decrease in dependence on both professionals and technology.
- Reduction in feelings of powerlessness towards bureaucracy.
- Increased information and knowledge about community health.
- Contribution to the effective use of health services and existing resources.
Benefits for Professionals
- Clarification of objectives.
- Quality assurance through evaluation and responsiveness to changes.
- Expansion and strengthening of the professional role socially, leading to increased job satisfaction.
Types of Participation
- Individual and Group: Focuses on the user-professional relationship, encouraging de-medicalization.
- Community: Involves participation in groups like volunteer associations, promoting democratization.
It’s crucial to analyze situations where community involvement is or isn’t appropriate.
Teamwork in Community Nursing
Teamwork is a fundamental principle of community nursing and a key element in developing Primary Health Care (PHC). A team is defined as a group of people performing an organized activity with the intention of achieving a common objective. Collaboration among team members should be based on fairness, equality, recognizing and accepting the differences of each profession.
Requirements and Elements of Teamwork
Structural Factors
- Adequate space.
- Proper ratio of professionals.
- An organizational framework.
- Flexible and consensual organization.
- Common objectives.
- Defined functions or powers.
- Consensus decision-making.
- Coordination and monitoring of activities.
Obstacles
- Heterogeneity in team member training.
- Limited experience working in PHC.
- Difficulty in relating among different team members.
Elements of Teamwork
- Decision-Making:
- Views are discussed and reflected in writing.
- Decisions represent the agreement of the majority.
- Minorities accept the majority decision for the common good and feel integrated.
Difficulties include conflicting loyalties, hierarchical problems, rigid methodology hindering open discussion, and leadership not sharing coordination tasks.
- Communication: Essential for effective teamwork.
Increasing Team Cohesion
- Improve the physical environment.
- Set clear and attainable targets for everyone.
- Maintain flexibility in team organization.
- Emphasize teamwork and well-done tasks.
- Reward the team collectively.
- Conduct continuous assessments that allow for feedback.