Understanding Workplace Relatedness Support among Healthcare Professionals: A Four-Layer Model and Implications for Technology Design

Paper Title

Understanding Workplace Relatedness Support among Healthcare Professionals: A Four-Layer Model and Implications for Technology Design

Publication Info

• Topic area: Workplace relatedness support for healthcare professionals and its implications for technology design.
• Keywords: Healthcare professionals, relatedness, workplace support, Self-Determination Theory, digital interventions, camaraderie, community care, shared identity, co-design, HCI.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Healthcare professionals (HCPs) face increasing stress and burnout, with declining workplace social connections exacerbated by digitalization. Existing research on relatedness technologies focuses on close personal relationships, leaving workplace relationships, especially in healthcare, underexplored.
• Significance: Addressing relatedness needs is crucial for HCPs’ psychological wellbeing, resilience, and work motivation. Effective relatedness support can mitigate burnout, improve team cohesion, and enhance patient care.
• Motivation and related work: Prior studies have shown the importance of relatedness for wellbeing but often treat it generically, failing to capture the unique dynamics of HCPs’ workplace relationships. Technologies have potential to enhance relatedness, but existing designs often overlook the specific needs and constraints of healthcare settings.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A four-layer model of workplace relatedness for HCPs, derived from qualitative interviews and co-design workshops, coupled with actionable design concepts for technology interventions.
• Novelty:
  1. Development of a four-layer model of relatedness needs: Informal Interactions, Camaraderie and Bond, Community and Organizational Care, and Shared Identity.
  2. Identification of eight design concepts for technology to support relatedness in healthcare settings.
  3. Integration of psychological theories (e.g., Self-Determination Theory) with HCI design principles tailored to HCPs.
  4. Emphasis on workflow-aware, minimally disruptive, and culturally sensitive technological interventions.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  1. Conducted semi-structured interviews (n=15) to explore HCPs’ current relatedness practices and needs.
  2. Organized co-design workshops (n=21) to generate technology design ideas.
  3. Thematic analysis of qualitative data to develop the four-layer model and categorize design concepts.
  4. Mapped design concepts onto relatedness layers to align with HCPs’ needs.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Four-layer model of relatedness needs:
    1. Informal Interactions: Spontaneous, restorative daily interactions.
    2. Camaraderie and Bond: Deeper connections within teams through trust and teamwork.
    3. Community and Organizational Care: Support from broader organizational and community networks.
    4. Shared Identity: Collective professional identity shaped by shared values and experiences.
  • Eight design concepts for technology, including Playful Encounter, Collocated Action, Team-up Activities, and Memories and Stories.
• Advantage over baselines: Provides a nuanced, multi-layered understanding of relatedness needs specific to HCPs, addressing gaps in existing research and offering tailored design strategies.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Semi-structured interviews and co-design workshops conducted in a UK NHS hospital.
  • Reflexive thematic analysis to derive insights and validate the model.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited to a single hospital in the UK; findings may not generalize across cultures or healthcare systems.
  • Volunteer sampling and self-reported data may introduce biases.
  • Exploratory framework requires further quantitative validation and pilot testing of proposed technologies.

Summary

This study introduces a four-layer model of workplace relatedness needs among healthcare professionals, emphasizing the importance of informal interactions, team camaraderie, organizational care, and shared professional identity. Through interviews and co-design workshops, eight actionable design concepts for technology were developed to support relatedness in healthcare settings. The findings highlight the need for minimally disruptive, culturally sensitive interventions that fit into HCPs’ workflows. As healthcare systems become increasingly digitalized, supporting HCPs’ relatedness should be a priority to enhance wellbeing, resilience, and team cohesion. Future work should validate the model across diverse contexts and pilot the proposed technologies.