Professional Identity, Role Clarity, and Interprofessional Relationships: How Medical Staff Perceive Psychiatric Social Workers in Nigerian Hospitals
Abstract
Psychiatric social work is an emerging but overlooked profession in Nigerian hospitals, wherein multidisciplinary psychiatric services are scarce. The competence of psychiatric social workers hinges largely on perceptions of professional identity, role clarity, and interprofessional relationships among medical staff. However, there has been little insight into how these influence beliefs about psychiatric social workers and their incorporation within clinical teams. This study explored the impact of professional identity, role clarity, and interprofessional relationships on medical staff's perceptions of psychiatric social workers in Nigerian hospitals with reference to value, trustworthiness, teamwork, and integration within care delivery. The cross-sectional mixed-methods study covered four tertiary hospitals in North Central Nigeria. Quantitative data were gathered from 420 medical staff (physicians, nurses, clinical psychologist, and administrators) via a Likert-scale structured questionnaire with sub-variable measures of professional identity, role clarity, and interprofessional working. Qualitative perceptions were garnered through 20 in-depth interviews with major hospital stakeholders. Descriptive statistics, multivariate regression, and thematic analysis were applied to determine predictors of perception. Quantitative findings established that psychiatric social workers with high degree of role clarification (?=.42, p<.0I) and positive interprofessional relationships (?=.36, p<.01 were best predicted to have positive perceptions, with professional identity (?=.21, p<.05) also making a significant contribution. Medical staff with clear job allocations and regular communication with psychiatric social workers were more likely to view them as valuable and trustworthy team workers. Qualitative perceptions emphasized challenges including poor knowledge of psychiatric social work preparation, overlap with clinical psychology work, and poor institutional recogniti
