Examining Sexual Health Organizational Networks in Urban African American Communities Using Social Network Theory

Collaboration among organizations offering sexual health and youth development services has the potential to provide youth with effective sexual health support. However, formally structured efforts (eg, coalition formation) may be impractical or unsuitable for low-income communities where resources are often already limited. Social network theories provide an alternative approach for building collaborative organizational networks.

Research aims to evaluate the barriers and facilitators to collaboration in sexual health organizational networks.

Organizations in low income, urban, communities in Chicago and San Francisco that serve African American adolescents.

Providers (n = 22) from organizations that offer sexual health services and youth development services.

Focus groups (n = 4) were conducted and analyzed utilizing a combination of coding strategies.

Barriers to collaboration included resource limitations and competition, differences in organizational roles and deliverables, and prejudice and stigma. Identifying common ground among organizations was found to be a facilitator to collaboration. Social network concepts in conjunction with study findings lead to the development of a practice model that hypothesizes a pathway for organizations to improve collaboration without formally structured efforts.

Our findings offer ways to encourage collaboration among organizations that support youth sexual health in low-income, urban, African American communities without relying on formal structures. Such collaborations may be critical for improving the provision of comprehensive sexual health support.