Paradoxes and limits of interprofessional collaboration: analysis of an Extended Family Health and Primary Care Center

Abstract This article analyzes the possibilities and limits of interprofessional collaboration in mental health care, considering the articulations between the teams of the Extended Family Health and Primary Care Center and the Family Health Strategy in a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is a qualitative research, based on the philosophical hermeneutic approach, which was based on a case study, using as methodological strategies participant observation, narrative focus groups, and semi-structured interviews. The results indicate the inseparability of structural, organizational, and intersubjective elements in interprofessional collaboration, with strong tensions regarding the organization of work processes in both their formal and intersubjective dimensions. It was identified that the sharing of some care goals, such as demedicalization, fostered the construction of partnerships among the teams. On the other hand, from the dialog with the references used, it was understood that rules constructed with the intention of inducing cooperation had a paradoxical effect, generating unimplicated participation on part of the workers. It is concluded that trust at work has proven to be a fundamental element for collaboration, which requires the configuration of an organizational environment capable of bringing together interests and dealing with conflicts.