Abstract
Background: Health disparities between populations with different socioeconomic status (SES) are increasing. Although a wide variety of support service organizations and arrangements are in place, no general overview of this social network, its reach, and harmonization of services surrounding low-SES populations are available. The present participatory health research study examined the current network structure and the utility of using social network analysis (SNA) as a tool to improve service delivery structures.Design and methods: We applied a mixed-methods study design. An online-questionnaire was used to examine the relationships among organizations assumed to support low-SES individuals in the municipality of Vaals, the Netherlands. In addition, semi-structured interviews and a networking session were used to examine the current network structure and to explore opportunities for improvement.Results: The SNA revealed a weak network structure, and all interviewed professionals mentioned that the current structure should be improved. Participants indicated that a first step would be to install a central information system.Conclusions: SNA can be a useful tool to gain more in-depth insights into the relations within a service delivery network. The professionals were assisted in discovering new organizations that could help them reach low SES populations and in harmonizing and improving their service delivery.Significance for public healthAlthough intervention programs to decrease health disparities between populations with different socioeconomic status (SES) are in place, low-SES individuals seem to experience barriers to participate. The daily issues they face related to being poor devote most of their mental energy, leaving no cognitive attention to any other health promoting goals to act upon. To enable these populations to improve their health, professionals should support them individually and help them in making optimal use of the available services to improve their situation. By fulfilling their basic needs, opportunities arise to enhance their health status. Currently professionals struggle to make optimal use of synergy and referral to relevant care, being unable to fulfil the basic needs of low-SES populations. This study gained more insight in the current network among low-SES families by using social network analysis, where this analysis was used as a tool to improve service delivery structures.
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