Collaboration and perceived job demands, job control and social support in primary care: a social network approach

Purpose - This study aims to examine the associations of collaboration measured as social network characteristics with perceived job demands, job control and social support in primary healthcare professionals. Design/methodology/approach - A cross-sectional study design incorporating social network analysis was utilized. Wellbeing surveys with a network questionnaire were sent to care personnel (physicians, nurses and allied health workers) of Finnish primary healthcare in December 2022 (n = 96). Correlation coefficients and multivariate linear regression modeling were used to analyze the associations. Findings - Higher level of collaboration (measured as number of connections in the network) was associated with lower perceived job demands and higher job control. Care professionals' frequency of collaboration and proportion of connections with the same occupation (homophily) were borderline associated with social support, indicating further research needs. Larger professional networks, perhaps enabling better teamwork and sharing of workload or information, may directly or indirectly protect from job strain. Practical implications - Work-related collaboration in primary care should be encouraged and large support networks need to be promoted further. Individuals, especially allied health workers, working in multiple locations or as a sole member of their occupation group in the work community need to be provided with adequate social support. Originality/value - Social network analysis has been proposed as a tool to investigate care integration and collaboration, but direct analyses of network measures and validated wellbeing instruments have remained absent. This study illuminated the role of collaboration structures in work-related wellbeing of care professionals by showcasing the potential of social network analysis.