 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
|
| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Jennifer Gregson, MPH, MA, Cancer Prevention and Nutrition Section, California Department of Health Services, PO Box 942732, MS 662, Sacramento, CA 94234-7320, (916) 323-4586, jgregson@dhs.ca.gov and Heather Kohler Flynn, MA, Department of Sociology, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, UC Davis Sociology Department, Davis, CA 95616.
The California Nutrition Network is a nutrition social marketing program sponsored by the California Department of Health Services and over 200 partner organizations, with major funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2000, the Network included over 160 local partner agencies including health departments, school districts, Indian tribal organizations, city governments, higher education, churches, and food security organizations. A pilot project using social network analysis was employed to examine the degree of collaboration between local partners, the types of organizations who partnered with each other, and to identify programs that acted as hubs of program activity. Local programs were asked to list the agencies they worked with most often in semi-annual progress reports, and these data were used to make a geographically-grounded mathematical model of the partnership web, also called a sociogram. The data were analyzed using UCINET software which identified cliques, the density of partnerships both generally and in a specific geographic region, and the number of agencies through which information has to pass to reach all Network partners (referred to as a path). This approach was useful in identifying duplication, gaps, and lack of coordination in program delivery. The analysis and sociogram leading to this conclusion will be displayed. Following the 2000 pilot study, the Network enhanced partnership-building activities and the social network analysis was repeated with 2002 data. Differences in the partnership web at the two points in time will be discussed, as will the utility of social network analysis for evaluation of partnerships over time.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Evaluation, Partnerships
Related Web page: www.ca5aday.com
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Handout (.ppt format, 604.5 kb)