Implementointiosaamisen vahvistaminen sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollossa: johtajien ja esihenkilöjen kokemuksia valmennuksesta

Implementation, namely the process of putting a new intervention into practice, requires careful planning and active support. Nevertheless, in Finland, relatively little attention has been given to strengthening implementation competence and leadership in social and healthcare services, and there is no published domestic research available on the topic. The present study piloted an implementation coaching for leaders and managers in child and family social work and evaluated the feasibility of the coaching with mixed methods. The coaching was conducted in three wellbeing services counties in which social workers from child protection and family social work simultaneously participated in Motivational Interviewing training. The goal of the training was to enhance the implementation competence of leaders and managers, and consequently, to support the implementation of Motivational Interviewing at the practitioner level. The research data consists of surveys and focus group interviews with the coaching participants. The results indicate that the participants' self-assessed implementation competence improved during the coaching process. Participants felt that the coaching helped them in implementing Motivational Interviewing within their teams as well as in planning future change initiatives. Furthermore, they described becoming more aware of the significance of implementation in leadership and development of services. However, frontline managers expressed a desire for more information about the intervention being implemented, so they could better support social workers in practicing new skills. In the future, it is essential to continue the systematic development of implementation support and to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of this support. Particular attention should be given to tailoring implementation support for different stakeholders, such as senior and frontline management.