Core and peripheral organisations in prevention: Insights from social network analysis

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Network Analysis
• Organizational Studies

Background:

• Formal collaborations for community-level prevention are increasing.
• Assessing pre-existing organizational relationships is crucial for collaboration effectiveness.
• Understanding community network structures can reveal new practice opportunities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply social network analysis to map interorganizational relationships in prevention.
• To identify pre-existing network structures among organizations not yet in formal collaborations.
• To understand how these structures impact potential collaboration effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Social network analysis (SNA) was used to study organizations involved in prevention.
• Whole network analysis methods assessed awareness, contact, coordination, and collaboration intensity.
• Organizations' contributions to local prevention efforts were identified and compared with interviews.

Main Results:

• An identifiable network structure with more relationships than expected by chance was found.
• A core-periphery structure emerged, with highly interconnected organizations (core) and less connected ones (periphery).
• Core organizations were significantly more likely to possess prevention expertise and dedicated staff.

Conclusions:

• Pre-existing core-periphery structures in interorganizational health promotion are identifiable and novel.
• These structures advantage core entities and can become entrenched.
• Findings enable critical reflection on organizational roles in community activation and power structures.