Objectives: Collaboration among medical, nursing, and welfare staff members in a community is needed to promote community-based integrated care in Japan; however, these individuals have few opportunities to communicate. We held a Care Cafe®, which establishes face-to-face relationships among the staff members in a community, evaluated changes in the extent of community collaboration over time, and tracked the number of times each individual participated. Methods: Participants in the Care Cafe® were asked to complete a questionnaire measuring the extent of community collaboration among medical, nursing, and welfare staff members at the time of first participation and approximately one to two years later. Responses were evaluated with a 5-point rating scale to reveal the extent of collaboration (total score and six subscale scores), how the participants felt about the collaboration, and the number of staff members in the community who could support them. Results: Thirty-six participants responded, including 12 community pharmacists, 10 care managers, 5 physical therapists, 3 hospital pharmacists, and 6 others. Of them, 22 (61.1%) participated at least three times. The total score and the five subscale scores, the proportion of participants who rated their collaboration as good, and the reported number of staff members who could support them increased significantly from the time of first participation. Thirteen participants (36.1%), each of whom participated at least three times, responded that their participation resulted in practical collaboration. Conclusions: The Care Cafe® can improve collaboration among medical, nursing, and welfare staff members in a community. More frequent participation may promote collaboration.
