Literature Collection

The incidence of mental illness continues to increase since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (Mental Health America, 2022). Demand for mental health services has grown, and providers report being "unable to meet the demand" or having an increase in wait times for access to care (American Psychological Association, 2022, para. 1). Due to this increase in demand, more patients are seeking mental health care from their primary care providers. Over the past decade, integrative models of care have been expanding into mental health care (Lake, 2017). Integrative Nursing is a strategy for improving the quality of care provided to patients seeking care for mental health diagnoses, as well as those with a goal of increasing mental health and wellbeing. This article proposes that Integrative Nursing can serve as a framework for providing whole-person mental health care.

To improve patient health, health care systems are increasingly integrating services that address social needs into medical care. Social workers often catalyze this process, yet the roles and challenges of social workers in integrated health care settings are poorly understood. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, we employed purposive sampling and conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty social workers who were employed on interdisciplinary teams within integrated health care settings. Three themes emerged: 1) the role of social workers and their unique presence in health care settings; 2) collaboration and the importance of communication for effective collaboration; and 3) the ethical differences among health professionals on integrated health care teams. With greater calls for integrated health care, especially to address patients' unmet social and behavioral needs, the challenges and strategies identified in this paper can assist interdisciplinary teams with improving interprofessional teamwork, interdisciplinary training, and social, behavioral, and holistic care integration in medical settings.