Using the Internet to Enhance Team
Functioning
Establishing a consistent and coordinated
treatment approach among outpatient service providers from
different agencies,
with different experience and skills, is a daunting task. Barriers to
efficient means of communication contribute significantly to
the difficulties
encountered. This project will pilot the use of e-mail to
allow clients,
family members, providers from various sites, and case
managers to communicate
in a shared forum using "list.server" technology. Individual
list.servers will be established for 10 outpatients and will
include the
client, current providers and others of the client's
choosing. The project
will evaluate (1) the feasibility of using e-mail
list.servers to connect
clients and team members, and (2) participants' perceptions
of the effect
on communication and treatment coordination. List.server technology is
expected to allow systematic communication of progress to all involved,
consistency in responses to particular issues, and access by the client
to the team in a way that allows questions to be formulated
and responses
digested at his/her own rate. Qualitative and quantitative data will be
used to develop consensus recommendations regarding the heuristic value
of this approach.