ABSTRACT
The introductory chapter emphasized that professionals and researchers both constantly encounter complex problems, which can be addressed in an interdisciplinary manner. Of course, this is a well-established insight; for instance, the US National Academy of Sciences Report (National Academy of Sciences, 2005) had an elegiac call for interdisciplinarity that described it as “one of the most productive and inspiring of human pursuits – one that provides a format for conversations and connections that lead to new knowledge … [and has] delivered much already and promises more – a sustainable environment, healthier and more prosperous lives, new discoveries and technologies to inspire young minds, and a deeper understanding of our place in space and time” (Ibid., 16). However, it has been shown that putting interdisciplinarity into practice is a demanding task. The aim of this chapter is to elaborate the challenging process of interdisciplinary work. Such a process goes through many phases. From being an expert in a certain field, such as social work, one collaborates with professionals from other fields; for instance, trained child psychiatrists and teachers. This multidisciplinary phase is characterized by cross-disciplinary understanding – for example, learning from each other. Cross-disciplinary learning is a precondition for the next phase of a successful interdisciplinarity work, which includes integrating the knowledge that all the members of the team have brought to the fore. This is the most crucial and challenging phase of interdisciplinary work. If it fails, the team will remain at a multidisciplinary level. If one reaches the point where the team has a broad understanding of the object, the last phase is to utilize the enlarged picture in a program for intervention.
