What does it mean to be partners? Using social network analysis to understand a systems of care initiative for babies and young children with special health care needs

The WONDERbabies Partnership for Health, an initiative funded by The Colorado Trust to improve systems of care for babies and young children with special health care needs and their families, focuses on three target areas: 1) systems issues, 2) training and education, and 3) data collection and evaluation. The collaborative includes partners from local and state health departments, early intervention organizations, clinicians, academicians, institutions of higher education, parent advocacy groups, and early childhood organizations. Systems efforts include representation on State task forces, advisory councils, committees and initiatives to ensure that the needs of babies and young children are considered and integrated into early childhood efforts. WONDERbabies promotes excellence in service systems and service delivery by establishing professional development guidelines and standards for professionals working with this population.

We are currently implementing a multi-level network analysis to demonstrate the effectiveness of this statewide public health collaborative. We will evaluate the statewide stakeholder network, the providers' referral and support networks, and the families' support and resources networks using Social Network Analysis (SNA). SNA, a methodology which helps to explain how actors connect to one another, thus elucidating the structural makeup of collaborative relationships, is used to analyze collaborative tendencies of community partnerships. WONDERbabies will use the data and evaluation results to develop and promote standard of care guidelines for use in providing services to the target population and to develop and pilot collaborative models to address needs and gaps. This presentation will provide an overview and results of the evaluation.