Evaluating community partnerships: Application of social network analysis

Local public health systems depend on public and private partnerships to address issues such as teen pregnancy, tobacco use, and emergency preparedness. A goal of these partnerships is to create the conditions for social, economic, and political change. Achieving meaningful structural change in a community is difficult. Public health problems are embedded in complex community contexts, and the partnerships themselves have their own dynamics. Evaluating these initiatives is challenging because change occurs at different levels and over a long period of time. This paper describes the application of social network analysis to an evaluation of a teen pregnancy prevention coalition. Formed in 2003, this coalition includes 19 partners from the education, managed care, faith, academic, nonprofit, and public health sectors. The focus is on the structure of relationships among the partner organizations and what these relationships tell us about how the coalition behaves. Interviews with representatives were conducted between March and August, 2006. Data were analyzed using UCINET 6 and Netdraw 2.41. Preliminary results suggest that the faith-based organizations tend to be isolated in the network. One question raised by this finding is the politics of abstinence-only approaches to teen pregnancy prevention. The ties among the partners are both personal and political, and the coalition exists in a broader political environment. Social network analysis can illuminate patterns of power and isolation, informing partners about the coalition's potential to contribute to change in the community. Consideration of the network dimensions of partnerships has implications for politics and policy in communities.