Book Review
Abstract
Journal of Interprofessional Care, January 2006; 20(1): 88 Book Review Interdisciplinary collaborationâperspectives and strategy Kirsti Lauvas & Per Lauvas, 2004 Ë Ë Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2nd edition, 264 pp., NOK 289 ISBN 82-15-00538-1 Nordic health and social care students and teachers have been using this book, now published in a revised second edition, for some years. Written in Norwegian and Danish, it provides a theoretical understanding of interdisciplinarity and emphasises the pedagogical challenges associated with working across boundaries. It draws upon insights into the difï¬culties in developing functional interdisciplinary collaboration from the authorsâ experience as parents of a disabled child and as educationists in public health care. It is divided into three parts: what interdisciplinary collaboration actually is, different theoretical perspectives and an overview of interdisciplinary collaboration. The ï¬rst part distinguishes between collaboration and co-ordination, and addresses the challenges of working together including crises and conï¬icts. The authors argue that collaboration is a dynamic process within which relationships are generated between participants. Concepts such as âinterdisciplinary collaborationâ and âintersectoral collaborationâ are discussed and ways in which service users take part. The second part illuminates interdisciplinary collaboration from different theoretical perspectives: social psychological, sociology of the professions, organisation theory and