From ‘Master and Servants’ to ‘Equal Partners’ in a Health Community: Transforming local mental health services by action research and social innovation

Complex health and welfare organisations struggle to align resources and integrate services for mental health patients. In Western Norway, 16 leaders across four local public organisations participated in this action research study. Providing services for joint service users, they were mandated to make necessary changes towards resource alignment and service integration. The purpose of this study was to learn how these leader experienced the process and outcomes of participating in the four year action research project aiming at transforming practices by implementing a portfolio of social innovation initiatives. More than 300 people, including service users, frontline workers and leaders were involved in the social innovation initiatives, including two service design projects and a network for leaders for collective governance across organisations. Data for this study were co-created in reflexive dialogues in a focus group interview and a whole-day evaluation workshop for leaders in the network. Through reflexive thematic analysis this study found that participants experienced transformations in services, power relations, relational awareness of interdependency, organisational culture, and capability for self-steering in a `systemic whole`. We conclude that combining social innovation and action research enabled local contextualising of problems and solutions, contributing to co-creation of integrated, safer services and resource alignment in the Health Community.