Building trust for rapid response: Examining how network collaboration operates within Australian drug-related early...

Drug-related early warning systems (EWS) rapidly identify and share information on emerging risks, linked to unregulated drug markets. Such systems depend on effective interdisciplinary and interorganisational network collaboration, however, the mechanisms underpinning this collaboration and the outcomes it generates remain under-examined. This paper explores how network collaboration operates, and the outcomes it produces within Australian drug-related EWS.

Twenty practitioners with experience of brokering, managing and participating in nationwide and jurisdiction specific EWS networks in Australia were interviewed. Interviews were transcribed verbatim. Drawing on realist evaluation methodologies data were analysed to derive context, mechanism and outcome (CMO) configurations, which supported the development of an initial program theory for network collaboration. Danermark's critical realist model for explanatory research guided this process.

Among practitioners interviewed, network collaboration was described as generating three core outcomes: i) establishing and strengthening trust, ii) building EWS capacity, situational awareness, and preparedness, and iii) enabling rapid, reliable and resonant EWS responses. These outcomes appeared to emerge incrementally, be mutually reinforcing, and follow a cyclical pattern. However, they were contingent upon collaborators aligning on purpose, maintaining respect, preserving each other's remits and affirming diverse types of expertise.

Drug-related EWS networks can foster relational trust, triggering reciprocal sharing, learning, and timely exchanges about acute concerns. The impact of collaboration may be further strengthened via formal governance mechanisms that enable close to real-time interorganisational and interjurisdictional data-sharing. Our program theory may inform practitioner efforts to broker, manage, and evaluate collaborative networks addressing drug related harms.