IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i3p511-d136124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Network Analysis as a Methodological Approach to Explore Health Systems: A Case Study Exploring Support among Senior Managers/Executives in a Hospital Network

Author

Listed:
  • Aoife De Brún

    (School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland)

  • Eilish McAuliffe

    (School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland)

Abstract

Health systems research recognizes the complexity of healthcare, and the interacting and interdependent nature of components of a health system. To better understand such systems, innovative methods are required to depict and analyze their structures. This paper describes social network analysis as a methodology to depict, diagnose, and evaluate health systems and networks therein. Social network analysis is a set of techniques to map, measure, and analyze social relationships between people, teams, and organizations. Through use of a case study exploring support relationships among senior managers in a newly established hospital group, this paper illustrates some of the commonly used network- and node-level metrics in social network analysis, and demonstrates the value of these maps and metrics to understand systems. Network analysis offers a valuable approach to health systems and services researchers as it offers a means to depict activity relevant to network questions of interest, to identify opinion leaders, influencers, clusters in the network, and those individuals serving as bridgers across clusters. The strengths and limitations inherent in the method are discussed, and the applications of social network analysis in health services research are explored.

Suggested Citation

  • Aoife De Brún & Eilish McAuliffe, 2018. "Social Network Analysis as a Methodological Approach to Explore Health Systems: A Case Study Exploring Support among Senior Managers/Executives in a Hospital Network," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-11, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:3:p:511-:d:136124
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/3/511/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/3/511/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carter, Dorothy R. & Dechurch, Leslie A., 2012. "Networks: The Way Forward for Collectivistic Leadership Research," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 412-415, December.
    2. West, Elizabeth & Barron, David N. & Dowsett, Juliet & Newton, John N., 1999. "Hierarchies and cliques in the social networks of health care professionals: implications for the design of dissemination strategies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 633-646, March.
    3. Valente, T.W. & Chich, P.C. & Pentz, M.A., 2007. "Community coalitions as a system: Effects of network change on adoption of evidence-based substance abuse prevention," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(5), pages 880-886.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aoife De Brún & Eilish McAuliffe, 2018. "Recruitment of Healthcare Staff to Social Network Studies: A Case Study Exploring Experiences, Challenges, and Considerations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Irina Timm & Simone Rapp & Christian Jeuter & Philip Bachert & Markus Reichert & Alexander Woll & Hagen Wäsche, 2021. "Interorganizational Networks in Physical Activity Promotion: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Andrea Schaller & Gabriele Fohr & Carina Hoffmann & Gerrit Stassen & Bert Droste-Franke, 2021. "Supporting Cross-Company Networks in Workplace Health Promotion through Social Network Analysis—Description of the Methodological Approach and First Results from a Model Project on Physical Activity P," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Hsin-Pin Fu & Tsung-Sheng Chang & Hsiao-Ping Yeh & Yu-Xuan Chen, 2019. "Analysis of Factors Influencing Hospitals’ Implementation of a Green E-Procurement System Using a Cloud Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Dongxiao Gu & Jingjing Guo & Changyong Liang & Wenxing Lu & Shuping Zhao & Bing Liu & Tianyue Long, 2019. "Social Media-Based Health Management Systems and Sustained Health Engagement: TPB Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Pilar Marqués-Sánchez & María F. Muñoz-Doyague & Yolanda V. Martínez & Martin Everett & Nestor Serrano-Fuentes & Peter Van Bogaert & Ivaylo Vassilev & David Reeves, 2018. "The Importance of External Contacts in Job Performance: A Study in Healthcare Organizations Using Social Network Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schoen, Martin W. & Moreland-Russell, Sarah & Prewitt, Kim & Carothers, Bobbi J., 2014. "Social network analysis of public health programs to measure partnership," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 90-95.
    2. Lewis, Jenny M., 2006. "Being around and knowing the players: Networks of influence in health policy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2125-2136, May.
    3. Patterson, Megan S. & Prochnow, Tyler & Richardson, Ryan G. & Jackson, Kevin P., 2020. "Using network analysis to conduct a system-wide program evaluation within a university," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Chen T & Lu N & White AM & He H & Wu P & Hui J & Feng C & Tu XM & Zhang H & Kowalski J, 2016. "Social Network: A New Paradigm for Modeling Human Interaction: Implications for Statistical Inferences," Biostatistics and Biometrics Open Access Journal, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 1(1), pages 1-6, September.
    5. Rohan Dutta & David K Levine & Salvatore Modica, 2018. "Interventions when Social Norms are Endogenous: A Critique," Levine's Bibliography 786969000000001479, UCLA Department of Economics.
    6. McAneney, H. & McCann, J.F. & Prior, L. & Wilde, J. & Kee, F., 2010. "Translating evidence into practice: A shared priority in public health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(10), pages 1492-1500, May.
    7. C. M. Straw & B. P. McCullough & C. Segars & B. Daher & M. S. Patterson, 2022. "Reimagining Sustainable Community Sports Fields of the Future: a Framework for Convergent Science-Stakeholder Decision-Making," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1267-1277, September.
    8. Allen, Pauline & Croxson, Bronwyn & Roberts, Jennifer A. & Archibald, Kate & Crawshaw, Shirley & Taylor, Lynda, 2002. "The use of contracts in the management of infectious disease related risk in the NHS internal market," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 257-281, March.
    9. Paul, Sudeshna & Keating, Nancy L. & Landon, Bruce E. & O'Malley, A. James, 2014. "Results from using a new dyadic-dependence model to analyze sociocentric physician networks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 67-75.
    10. Pagliccia, Nino & Spiegel, Jerry & Alegret, Milagros & Bonet, Mariano & Martinez, Barbara & Yassi, Annalee, 2010. "Network analysis as a tool to assess the intersectoral management of health determinants at the local level: A report from an exploratory study of two Cuban municipalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 394-399, July.
    11. Mascia, Daniele & Dandi, Roberto & Di Vincenzo, Fausto, 2014. "Professional networks and EBM use: A study of inter-physician interaction across levels of care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 24-36.
    12. Isabel Martinez Leal & Jayda Martinez & Maggie Britton & Tzuan A. Chen & Virmarie Correa-Fernández & Bryce Kyburz & Vijay Nitturi & Ezemenari M. Obasi & Kelli Drenner & Teresa Williams & Kathleen Case, 2022. "Collaborative Learning: A Qualitative Study Exploring Factors Contributing to a Successful Tobacco Cessation Train-the-Trainer Program as a Community of Practice," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-19, June.
    13. Jane Fedorowicz & Janis L. Gogan, 2010. "Reinvention of interorganizational systems: A case analysis of the diffusion of a bio-terror surveillance system," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 81-95, March.
    14. Ken-Opurum, Jennifer & Lynch, Krystal & Vandergraff, Donna & Miller, Douglas K. & Savaiano, Dennis A., 2019. "A mixed-methods evaluation using effectiveness perception surveys, social network analysis, and county-level health statistics: A pilot study of eight rural Indiana community health coalitions," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    15. Garney, Whitney R. & Patterson, Megan S. & Garcia, Kristen & Muraleetharan, Daenuka & McLeroy, Kenneth, 2020. "Interorganizational network findings from a nationwide cardiovascular disease prevention initiative," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Pilar Marqués-Sánchez & María F. Muñoz-Doyague & Yolanda V. Martínez & Martin Everett & Nestor Serrano-Fuentes & Peter Van Bogaert & Ivaylo Vassilev & David Reeves, 2018. "The Importance of External Contacts in Job Performance: A Study in Healthcare Organizations Using Social Network Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, June.
    17. Seyedamir Tavakoli Taba & Liaquat Hossain & Robert Heard & Patrick Brennan & Warwick Lee & Sarah Lewis, 2016. "Personal and Network Dynamics in Performance of Knowledge Workers: A Study of Australian Breast Radiologists," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, February.
    18. Lessard, Chantale & Contandriopoulos, André-Pierre & Beaulieu, Marie-Dominique, 2010. "The role (or not) of economic evaluation at the micro level: Can Bourdieu's theory provide a way forward for clinical decision-making?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 1948-1956, June.
    19. Barrington, Clare & Latkin, Carl & Sweat, Michael D. & Moreno, Luis & Ellen, Jonathan & Kerrigan, Deanna, 2009. "Talking the talk, walking the walk: Social network norms, communication patterns, and condom use among the male partners of female sex workers in La Romana, Dominican Republic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2037-2044, June.
    20. Harris, Jenine K. & Luke, Douglas A. & Burke, Ryan C. & Mueller, Nancy B., 2008. "Seeing the forest and the trees: Using network analysis to develop an organizational blueprint of state tobacco control systems," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 1669-1678, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:3:p:511-:d:136124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.