On the same page? A qualitative study of shared mental models in an interprofessional, inter-organizational team implementing goal-oriented care

Goal-oriented care is an approach to care delivery that uses patient-identified goals to drive care planning. Implementing goal-oriented care requires team members to cognitively shift the focus from "what is the matter" to "what matters to patients," and align their mental models of what it means to care for patients. Yet, no empirical studies of goal-oriented care apply evidence from the cognitive sciences, such as Shared Mental Model (SMM) theory. We conducted a qualitative case study of an interprofessional team that adopted goal-oriented care in Vermont, US (n = 18). Guided by SMM theory, we distinguished between task-related and team-related mental models. We used framework analysis and qualitative content analysis to determine mental model content and similarity. The most shared content areas were operationalizing goal-oriented care, engaging in formal and informal communication, taking a "whole-person" approach, taking a team approach, and building trusting relationships with patients and with other team members. Trust was the only construct that spanned both task and team mental model categories, highlighting the importance of both intra-team trust and provider-patient trust to the implementation of goal-oriented care. Team members developed SMMs through training, regular meetings, and interactions during care delivery. This study provides insight into the cognitive mechanisms that underlie team-based goal-oriented care delivery, which can be used to inform implementation, training content, and future research.