Introduction
Mental health providers require innovative ways of improving care delivery, but they are experiencing significant challenges in adopting innovations. Mental health has emerged as an essential aspect of care due to the significant increase in cases. More patients are being diagnosed with cognitive challenges, especially with the just concluded COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a lot of stress in populations (Purwati et al. 2021). The increase in demand for mental health care has also led to the need for a shift from traditional cognitive care practices (Brooks et al. 2001). The shift entails adopting technologies to improve service delivery and using strategies like community-based interventions and measures to ensure the health of care providers. The transition became more evident during the pandemic when patients couldn’t maintain their regular visits to care providers due to implemented restrictions. However, innovation adoption experiences several barriers that have made innovation be done at a slow pace instead of being a continuous process that responds to changes in the needs of stakeholders. This paper aims to assess the barriers to innovation in mental health care provision.
Innovation
Innovation is an act of improving items or processes to increase their value. It is a continuous process in most organizations due to the constant need for better products or services. Every aspect of society has changed due to internal and external forces that have led to improvements. The healthcare sector continues to experience innovation because of several factors. Healthcare has evolved because of the desire to have better patient outcomes, greater efficiency in care delivery, improve the well-being of care providers, and address the various challenges affecting the healthcare sector. Innovation in the healthcare sector is constant due to the evolution of various aspects of care, like the emergence of new infections due to care practices and the adoption of relevant innovations. The adoption of innovation is based on established innovation strategies in clinical facilities. Every organization is expected to have an innovation strategy due to the frequency of changes to various aspects. Mental health departments should have effective innovation strategies that help professionals to provide better care and maintain their well-being. However, challenges exist in the adoption of innovation in the units.
Comprehension of innovation and the processes involved in its adoption in an organization is essential when assessing the topic. Several innovation theories have emerged due to the need to comprehend the various elements aligned with innovation. Existing theories of innovation that have been used in healthcare settings usually approach the topic from a ‘whole systems’ perspective (Brooks et al. 2011). The approaches consider the ability of medical facilities to develop, innovate, and implement new systems of practice. The approach taken by researchers to study innovation has been essential in comprehending the integral elements of innovation, including the strategies used to introduce and implement innovations in organizations. They have also been essential in assessing the various factors that affect innovation. Factors that facilitate innovation have been extensively discussed in several studies, along with barriers to innovation. Barriers to innovation vary between healthcare organizations. However, their impacts are significant to the entire care delivery process since they hinder the adoption of better processes and tools to provide patients with better care and achieve higher patient outcomes.
Barriers to Innovation
Innovation Culture
Culture is a crucial component of every organization since it determines how operations and activities are done and the adoption of innovation in mental health care. Culture refers to the set of beliefs, values, and practices that are unique to a group of people. Most organizations have unique cultures based on the company’s values, organizational policies, and leadership. The culture in mental health wards or departments is based on the approaches to patient care. Care providers rely on their leaders to develop and sustain cultures that lead to positive outcomes. The approach to innovation is determined by the policies that healthcare providers adhere to when providing patient care. Mental health departments are slow in their adoption of innovation of the lack of innovative culture that embraces new and effective ways of addressing patient needs.
Leaders determine the culture practiced in an organization, and the lack of revolutionary culture among leaders in mental health contributes to the lack of innovation in the discipline. Culture has a role in the treatment gap in mental health care as the demand for care increases (Carbonell et al., 2020). The existing perceptions and approaches to innovation in cognitive care has been slow due to the lack of good leadership to spearhead the adoption of technologies and other strategies that improve care delivery and address mental health at the organizational and community level. Leaders who embrace innovation encourage their staff to adopt innovation to improve service delivery and productivity. However, a leader’s lack of innovation orientation reduces its significance among workers.
The lack of innovative culture in organizations is a barrier to adopting new methods in care delivery and affects the mental health department. The healthcare sector is experiencing continuous changes due to the various forces that affect it. Most of the change comes with the need to implement transformations in medical facilities, which can be challenging when the facility does not have an innovative culture. A transformative culture ensures workers and stakeholders know that innovation is essential to the progress of the facility and the improvement of outcomes. It also ensures that stakeholders embrace change due to its benefits to their respective roles. The organizational culture is also crucial in the innovation life cycle. The innovation structures that a healthcare organization establishes determine whether an innovation will be implemented and the pace at which it will be implemented. Organizations with a revolutionary culture have systems that ensure the assessment of innovation to determine its feasibility to an organization and how fast the intervention will be implemented. Therefore, the organizational culture towards innovation will determine the successful adoption of innovation in mental health units.
The innovation culture is responsible for various factors that determine the adoption of innovation in an organization. The existing culture will determine the collaborative efforts of the mental health unit. The existence of a hostile culture will support resistance to innovation since most of the professionals will not be knowledgeable, and their acceptance of changes will be low. Such environments inhibit collaborative efforts to institute innovations meant to help clients and care providers. Adopting any change in an organization depends on the collective support of all stakeholders. Moreover, leaders who have not instituted a culture of innovation tend to lack motivation in their units of an organization when innovation is introduced. This makes it difficult to embrace innovation since the relevant stakeholders are not collaborative and lack the motivation to implement the required innovation.
Resistance to Innovation
Innovation presents change to an organization and its stakeholders. Resistance to revolution is common. Change refers to adjustments to items or processes leading to either a decline or enhancements. Transformation is one of the most common elements in society, and the healthcare sector frequently experiences changes to various elements of healthcare. Innovation can be planned or unplanned but has to be adopted based on the needs of an organization. Innovation structures ensure that planned or unplanned transformation will be adopted appropriately in the organization. The structures offer organizations and professionals a practical approach to innovation execution in an organization or department. Leaders and stakeholders are expected to evaluate the organizational environment when considering the introduction of innovation in organizations, including resistance.
Resistance to innovation is expected due to various factors such as lack of knowledge, fear, and lack of trust that directly or indirectly affect stakeholders. Opposition to innovation refers to direct or indirect actions that prevent or interfere with the process of revolutionary transition in an organization. It is a common element in organizations and individuals since people fear what they do not know or are not used to. Most resistance comes from stakeholders who lack knowledge about the reasons for change to the standard processes. The lack of trust in the leadership or those proposing and implementing change is also a factor that can lead to resistance. Leaders are crucial in change adoption, and the success of the processes significantly depends on the level of trust people have in the management. Opposition can also come from the lack of belief in the need for change, even after creating awareness and indicating the need for changes.
The opposition to innovation in mental health come from cognitive care professionals who are not comfortable with adopting proposed changes or lack knowledge of the interventions’ benefits. Innovation in mental care is in various forms that affect traditional strategies. Some innovations are technology-based, like using Telehealth to provide patient care. Research illuminates Telehealth’s effectiveness in the general provision of healthcare services because patients, especially those in rural areas, can access the best physicians without physical appointments (Purwati et al. 2021). Innovation is also in the form of care, like community-based mental healthcare. Most mental health professionals who lacked knowledge of Telehealth during COVID-19 resisted its use, citing various factors that Telehealth does not provide during care provision (Purwati et al. 2021). Lack of knowledge about specific processes like community-based care also leads to resistance from professionals who prefer to maintain the quality of care they provide to patients. The interference innovations also facilitate resistance brought on mental healthcare and the time it would take for professionals to get used to the innovations and achieve similar or better outcomes compared with traditional care provision.
Organizational resistance also emerges when the management and other stakeholders oppose the adoption of specific innovations. The successful implementation of change in an organization depends on support from all stakeholders who will be affected by the innovation (Quirk et al., 2018). Healthcare organizations have several reasons for failing to support or adopt specific innovations. Some of the factors include the lack of resources to adopt innovations, especially when they are costly to implement, the determination that innovation does not fit or support the healthcare organization’s strategies, failure to meet expectations, and lack of confidence that innovation will enhance care (Knapp et al., 2006). The lack of resources is considered the most significant barrier to innovation adoption since most organizations have limited resources that must be appropriately managed. Resistance can also come from stakeholders like managers who do not believe innovation is relevant. Such factors have made the care delivery for mental health patients lag since they have to adhere to the recommendations and approaches of their care providers.
Clients can also be a source of resistance to implementing changes. Cognitive care is a process that usually entails long treatment processes that lead to attachments and familiarization with the selected strategy. Mental health patients who have been in treatment for an extended period can resist changes to care delivery when they are used to the traditional approach. The use of technology to deliver care remotely is not a universally accepted approach. Factors like technology anxiety have emerged in patients. Technology anxiety is the fear of technology implementation and lack of agility to execute operations with the assistance of tech innovation (Tsai et al. 2019). Technology has also raised other issues, including privacy, the confidentiality of data, and technological aspects (Ftouni et al., 2022). Other factors include changes to care delivery that patients can consider to hinder their treatment. Resistance from clients is primarily based on the impact technology will have on their treatment, especially when there exists an attachment with the care provider or physical presence is vital in their care. Opposition to innovation from patients should be considered to be an essential issue since they are the primary stakeholders, and the goal is always to enhance their care and achieve positive outcomes.
Change paradigms emphasize the need for awareness creation and dealing with any resistance from the processes to reduce barriers. Resistance can be addressed by preparing the organization or stakeholders for the change. Managers or leaders should inform every relevant stakeholder about the innovation, the need for the change, and the expected outcomes. Convincing stakeholders about the significance of the innovation is vital in gaining their support to implement it. Resistance should also be addressed through continued engagement with those affected by the change and addressing any concerns about the proposed change. Continuous engagement guarantees those affected by the innovation to be part of the process and increases trust in its adoption.
Resistance to innovation can affect changes that are to be made to a mental health ward by slowing the process or making it unsuccessful. Resistance to innovation emerges due to various reasons that can be addressed. Most of the factors that cause resistance will slow the change implementation process because of the need to ensure that all the concerns among stakeholders are addressed. Failure to address the concerns can lead to further resistance among essential stakeholders, who may prevent the adoption of changes to the program. For example, failing to convince the departmental manager or the medical facility’s board about the need for innovation in the mental health unit can lead to a lack of approval and support. It can also lead to the prevention of the interventions because of a lack of understanding or awareness. However, resistance can also lead to the enhancement of the interventions through assessments and raised concerns. Any innovation introduced in a healthcare unit will be subject to scrutiny from relevant stakeholders, who will raise their concerns through resistance, which may be included in the interventions to improve the program.
Rewarding Innovation
The primary goal of innovation is to improve systems or processes responsible for production. Innovation helps to bring new ideas into an organization and facilitates the assessment and development of the ideas into actionable plans that lead to positive outcomes. Organizations rely on their employees to present new ideas that will improve the company’s productivity and lead to a competitive edge. In healthcare, practitioners are relied upon to be innovative and research to address the various prevalent issues. The several challenges experienced in the healthcare sector can be addressed through more significant innovative efforts that ensure healthcare professionals are motivated to continue being innovative and contribute towards positive outcomes. However, the healthcare sector does not always reward innovation, especially tiny ones that only apply to single organizations or units. The lack of rewards for innovation is a barrier to motivation because people need to be motivated to continue engaging in efforts like research to address specific challenges in organizations.
Talented workers are always targeted during recruitment by healthcare organizations, and the top management expects them to contribute positively towards organizational processes. Innovation usually comes from talented people who identify issues in a setting and develop ways of resolving the problems. The process is not always continuous; most professionals tend to engage in standard organizational processes. However, at times, they become innovative, and their ideas are developed and implemented in organizations. The challenge emerging from the healthcare sector is that innovation is not always recognized and rewarded, leading to a lack of motivation to continue with innovation. Organizations that fail to recognize and reward innovation prevent innovation by demotivating those responsible for the innovation. Rewards are crucial in every organization since employees need the motivation to continue performing their jobs at optimal levels despite their levels. Managers reward their staff in various ways, including promotions and increased salaries. Failing to reward innovative employees makes them lack the motivation to continue with innovation, which hinders the innovative process.
Incentives are vital in promoting innovation, and their absence prevents organizational innovation. Incentives comprise various factors that organizations use to encourage their workers to be productive. Companies know that maintaining a motivated workforce requires more than reasonable compensation for their efforts and roles. Incentives have become the primary method of motivating workers to be productive. Managers use the same approach to motivate innovation, with most organizations providing their employees with great opportunities for their efforts and contributions to the firms. However, some organizations lack incentives to motivate their employees to engage in innovation. Such an environment becomes a barrier to innovation since workers tend to lack the motivation to continue engaging in processes that lack rewards or motivation. Therefore, using incentives is crucial in promoting innovation in an organization. The lack of such systems can contribute to an ineffective workforce that lacks the motivation to improve processes or systems.
Conclusion
Innovation is a continuous organizational process that helps companies to address changes. The healthcare sector has been experiencing frequent changes due to several factors affecting care provision processes. The recent COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing high living costs negatively affect populations. Mental health cases have been rising consistently, with physicians diagnosing more cases. The increased demand for cognitive care is met with a lack of sufficient healthcare providers to address the needs of a highly diverse population. Also, the healthcare sector continues to face a deficit in healthcare providers, exacerbating the challenge. Innovation has become the most effective intervention for care providers in mental health units. Innovations like Telehealth are crucial in bridging the gap between patients and care providers. Physicians can provide care without being present and have several other innovations that can be used to enhance care. However, the provision of mental health care faces the challenge of barriers to innovation. The barriers include the lack of innovation culture in units and organizations, the lack of rewards and incentives, and resistance to change. Addressing barriers to innovation is crucial in the current healthcare system. Innovation will continue to be an integral aspect of healthcare, and the existence of barriers will only prevent advancements in healthcare provision.
References
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