The Value of Social Network Analysis for Evaluating Academic-Community Partnerships and Collaborations for Social Determinants of Health Research

Authors

Candace Forbes Bright, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Eboni Hayes, University of South Carolina
Danny Patterson, Gulf States Health Policy Center
Maria Pisu, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-9-2017

Department

Political Science, International Development, and International Affairs

School

Social Science and Global Studies

Abstract

Objective: Community-based participatory research processes build healthy communi­ties, as well as promote trust and genuine collaborative partnerships between stake­holders. Fostering relationships is essential to promoting these partnerships, which are necessary for collaborative, coordinated, and integrated efforts toward improving health outcomes in the community. The ob­jective of our research was to demonstrate social network analysis as an evaluative tool to assess movement toward positive health outcomes through promoting relationships.

Method: Using the example of the Gulf States Health Policy Center Coalition based at Bayou Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, we demonstrate the ability of social network analysis (SNA) methods to measure and map the formation of relationships, as well as the level and frequency of these relation­ships. Data were collected via email using a survey of Gulf States Health Policy Center Coalition members (N=80, 87%) and analyzed using UCInet software for social network analysis in April 2016.

Results: In this application of SNA to the community coalition of the Gulf States Health Policy Center, we find that, on aver­age, coalition members doubled their own network within the coalition in a time pe­riod of

Conclusions: The increased frequency and level of collaboration among the Coalition network was accompanied by a higher level of collaboration among the coalition members as posited by social network and capital theories. As such, the community en­gagement fostered through the Coalition has increased and thus, to date, the Gulf States Health Policy Center has been effective in promoting partnerships and collabora­tion.

Publication Title

Ethnicity & Disease

Volume

27

Issue

S1

First Page

337

Last Page

346

Recommended Citation

Bright, C. F., Hayes, E., Patterson, D., Pisu, M. (2017). The Value of Social Network Analysis for Evaluating Academic-Community Partnerships and Collaborations for Social Determinants of Health Research. Ethnicity & Disease, 27(S1), 337-346.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/16625