S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016
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delivering mental healthcare are based on this belief. Accordingly, the immutable mobiles, based on this belief, ensures uniformity of action across the social world irrespective of group. As the groups interact based on the same belief, the immutable mobile ensures that their joint actions are coordinated. Hence one group has not rejected this belief, stopped medications and substituted acupuncture to treat severe depression. If this were to occur then the two groups’ actions would not be coordinated. Immutable mobiles swirl around the network(s) in various shapes and forms such as written documents, electronic data, as knowledge and shared philosophies yet maintain their relational shape, irrespective of location or situation. Immutable mobiles as ‘objects’ do not have to physically occupy Euclidean space (Law & Singleton, 2005). 8.2.8.2 Boundary objects: artefacts of stability, uniformity of action and shared knowledge As discussed above, groups within the actor arena function and interact as a collective and in a coordinated fashion. Yet each group has their own agenda, belief system, goals and constraints due to historical, political, professional and current influences. Remote generalist registered nurses acting in concert with others (e.g., GPs, MHNs, RFDS) deliver mental healthcare (both within the healthcare arena and beyond) requiring a shared understanding (Easterby-Smith & Araujo, 1999). To explore this further, the researcher adopted Star and Griesemer’s (1989) notion of labelling policies, procedures, agreements, MOUs and instruction manuals as boundary objects. Boundary objects treat these documents and texts as a means of achieving collaboration ‘between actors with divergent viewpoints’ (e.g., the actors in the healthcare arena) (Star, 1988, p. 46) and also across and between arenas. As Star (2010) stated, boundary objects are
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