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Building Community Partnerships: Using Social Network Analysis to Strengthen Service Networks Supporting a South Carolina Program for Pregnant and Parenting Teens

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Abstract

In 2013, South Carolina implemented a multi-year program providing support services for pregnant and parenting teens. Local lead sites were responsible for coordinating service delivery in partnership with other multidisciplinary community-based organizations. We used social network theory and analyses (SNA) to examine changes in partnerships over time. Using two-stage purposeful sampling, we identified three lead sites and their self-reported community partners. We administered two web-based surveys grounded in social network theory that included questions about partnership relationships and organizational characteristics. We calculated selected whole-network measures (size, cohesion, equity, diversity). Following the Year 1 surveys, we reviewed our findings with the lead sites and suggested opportunities to strengthen their respective partnerships. Following the Year 3 surveys, we observed changes across the networks. Survey response rates were 91.5% (43/47) in Year 1 and 68.2% (45/66) in Year 3. By Year 3, the average network size increased from 15.6 to 20.3 organizations. By Year 3, one lead site doubled its measure of network cohesion (connectedness); another lead site doubled in size (capacity). A third lead site, highly dense in Year 1, increased in size but decreased in cohesion by Year 3. Innovative use of SNA findings can help community partnerships identify gaps in capacity or services and organizations needed to fulfill program aims. SNA findings can also improve partnership function by identifying opportunities to improve connectedness or reduce redundancies in program work. The ability of lead sites to strategically reconfigure partnerships can be important to program success and sustainability.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy for their support with data accessibility and acquisition. We also thank Erica Sercy, MSPH with the University of South Carolina, for her editorial review.

Funding

Supported in part by Grant 11550FL24 to the University of South Carolina from Children’s Trust of South Carolina. Community Support for Young Parents is a program of Children’s Trust of SC and the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The program is administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Adolescent Health. Contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Office of Adolescent Health. CFDA No. 93 500, Grant No.SP1AH000030-04-00.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Services Policy and Management, Arnold School of Public Health, South Carolina Rural Health Research Center, University of South Carolina, 220 Stonebridge Drive, Suite 204, Columbia, SC, 29210, USA

    Elizabeth Radcliff, Jennifer Browder & Claudia Cartledge

  2. Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

    Nathan Hale

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  1. Elizabeth Radcliff
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Correspondence to Elizabeth Radcliff.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no financial relationships to disclose relevant to this article.

Ethical Approval

The Institutional Review Board at the University of South Carolina approved this evaluation research under Protocol #00040407.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from participants as part of the survey administration process.

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Radcliff, E., Hale, N., Browder, J. et al. Building Community Partnerships: Using Social Network Analysis to Strengthen Service Networks Supporting a South Carolina Program for Pregnant and Parenting Teens. J Community Health 43, 273–279 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-017-0417-5

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