Evaluating the effects of partnerships on public health outcomes: The review of evidence

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: Recent reports recognize that partnerships can improve public health outcomes through better coordination and sharing of resources between multiple public health partners. The goal of the study was to collect existing evidence of effectiveness of partnerships, identify gaps in the literature and suggest directions of future research.

STUDY DESIGN: An extensive literature search followed by literature review was used as a primary method for identification and description of partnership effects in public health. A standard literature abstraction form was developed to ensure a consistent method of reviewing and summarizing the literature.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A majority of studies of partnership effect in public health are descriptive in nature. These case studies provide many interesting insights into the process of creation and functioning public health partnerships. However there is no consensus in the literature on which factors determine effectiveness of partnership. The literature also provides numerous examples of evaluation tools. Well-designed quantitative studies on the effects of partnerships on health outcomes are rare.

CONCLUSIONS: The body of evidence of the positive effects of partnerships on measurable public health outcomes is scarce. Our literature review identified the need for substantial investment in research and evaluation of public health partnerships.

IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY, DELIVERY AND PRACTICE: Three potentially viable priority research areas are identified: Social networks analysis; quasi-experimental studies to evaluate partnership effects on public health; and measurement tool development to assess effectiveness of partnerships. An example of ongoing research projects for each of these three promising research areas will be presented.