The Effectiveness of Community Mental Health Teams in Relation to Team Cohesion, Authentic Leadership and Size of the Team: A study in the North West of Ireland.

Abstract

Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) are increasingly being considered effective models of recovery focused care, however their effectiveness and factors that may affect it have not fully evaluated. Cross-sectional study in Ireland included 106 members from 8 CMHTs. We examined CMHT's effectiveness and the effects of authentic leadership, team cohesion, team members' experience and team tenure on effectiveness, by administering the Team Effectiveness Scale, Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, and Organizational Cohesion Scale. Data on demographics, discipline, years of experience, tenure in the same team, full or partial membership, and number of team members were collected. Results from multilevel regression analysis indicated significant association (p < 0.05) between effectiveness of CMHTs and factors including team cohesion, authentic leadership, size of the team and full membership. Therefore, to increase CMHTs effectiveness, interventions are needed to those areas: a switch to make leadership styles more authentic, to improve team cohesion, smaller team size and full membership.