Abstract
Background: Cooperation among university units is considered a cornerstone for the promotion of students' health. The underlying mechanisms of health-promoting networks at universities have rarely been examined so far. Shedding light on partnerships is generally limited to the naming of allied actors in a network.Objectives and Methods: In this study, we used network analysis intending to visualize and describe the positions and characteristics of the network actors, and examine organizational relationships to determine the characteristics of the complete network.Results: The network analysis at hand provides in-depth insights into university structures promoting students' health comprising 33 organizational units and hundreds of ties. Both cooperation and communication network show a flat, non-hierarchical structure, which is reflected by its low centralization indices (39–43%) and short average distances (1.43–1.47) with low standard deviations (0.499–0.507), small diameter (3), and the non-existence of subgroups. Density lies between 0.53 and 0.57. According to the respondents, the University Sports Center is considered the most important actor in the context of students' health. Presidium and Institute of Sport and Sports Science play an integral role in terms of network functionality.Conclusion: In the health-promoting network, numerous opportunities for further integration and interaction of actors exist. Indications for transferring results to other universities are discussed. Network analysis enables universities to profoundly analyze their health-promoting structures, which is the basis for sustained network governance and development.
Highlights
Problem Statement and RelevanceDespite their young age, university students are a vulnerable group from a health perspective [1,2,3]
The pattern of linkages of the cooperation network suggests that the highest number of relations among the actors were for information sharing
The present work has laid a foundation for future research that could include a longitudinal evaluation of the network by collecting data once again with the inclusion of the additional actors identified by respondents
Summary
Problem Statement and RelevanceDespite their young age, university students are a vulnerable group from a health perspective [1,2,3]. Because universities are complex organizations, systematically navigating health promotion is necessary for it to be effective and efficient [5]. Health-promoting universities are being called upon to work according to the setting approach, which means that relevant stakeholders from different disciplines and sectors within the campus community should be cooperatively involved in the process of embedding health into all aspects of campus culture and of providing health-promoting activities for students [6, 7]. Stakeholders can attain and provide additional resources, share information and knowledge, minimize the duplication of effort, reach additional members of the target audience, earn greater credibility, and tackle the determinants of health in a holistic approach through the provision of integrated services [8, 11,12,13,14]. The underlying mechanisms of health-promoting networks at universities have rarely been examined so far. Shedding light on partnerships is generally limited to the naming of allied actors in a network
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