Interagency Network Research Articles

Defining and locating cores and boundaries of social networks

We propose a general procedure for locating the boundary of a network and a second, related, procedure for discerning the boundaries within a network. The first is an expanding (snowball) selection procedure. The second requires the specification of two critical parameters: the value of k for a k-core and the threshold, w, for the quantitative magnitude of network ties. The use of these parameters generates a sequence of nested cores. Single sector and multi-sector social service inter-agency networks are used to illustrate the procedures.

Learning and change: Outcomes of inter-agency networking for child protection

Abstract The paper argues the crucial importance of local networking by middle-managers and senior professionals to the development of effective inter-agency work. It is suggested that the network provides a basis for learning both about critical issues in child protection practice and inter-professional collaboration, and that formal inter-agency bodies like Area Child Protection Committees have a vital role to play in providing legitimation and leadership in stimulating informal systems. An action learning programme drawing on adult learning theory, is described and analysed, with particular emphasis on the behavioural outcomes emerging. The paper describes the context of the programme and the stages involved. The programme involved two parts. The first comprised a series of workshops aimed at identifying and convening local middle management networks, and promoting mutual understanding. The second involved utilising the potential of the network, introducing teaching components on partnership and change in working with families, within a framework which encouraged participants to consider the changes of attitude and behaviour required of professionals. Participants were subsequently asked to report on outcomes in the workplace. Results indicated a substantial incidence of changes of behaviour in the workplace, and the authors comment on the significance and fate of such networks in periods of accelerated change. The authors wish to acknowledge the support of Stephanie Irwin, Chair of the Northern A.C.P.C. in encouraging both the work undertaken and the subsequent evaluation and analysis. Thanks are also due to Ken Wilson, currently Training Officer with the A.C.P.C, for his helpful comments on the subsequent develoment of the work.

Fixed list versus snowball selection of social networks

Two ways of collecting network data are discussed in the context of interorganizational networks among social service agencies. One method proceeds with a fixed agency list while the other uses a snowball selection procedure. We find that: 1. (i) the agencies included in the two selection procedures differ; 2. (ii) network-based indicators for agencies (such as centrality) differ; 3. (iii) the substantive contents of the included ties differ; and 4. (iv) the structure of the networks differ. The two methods are fundamentally different and cannot be used as surrogates for each other. When data are gathered at multiple points in time, the differences between the methods are more acute. Interagency networks change through time: agencies leave the network while other agencies join. Snowball selection can respond to these changes while fixed list selection does not.

Florida Model Task Force on Diabetic Retinopathy: Development of An Interagency Network

This article describes the development of a mechanism to organize a network in Florida for individuals who are at risk for diabetic retinopathy. The Florida Model Task Force on Diabetic Retinopathy, although tailored to meet the needs of Florida, was structured and documented to serve as a national model.

Social psychiatry-an overview

This overview sketches briefly the development of social psychiatry and its clinical application in institutions in modern times. The second and longest part addresses the family as the important social context for everybody throughout life. A systems view of family tasks and functioning is offered. In the third part, some of the highlights of psychiatric epidemiology are cited, and in the last section, community psychiatry is discussed - its failures and its potential. The need to establish interagency networks with continuing consultation and discussion concerning each patient is stressed, as well as the essentiality that our professions learn and cultivate general systems principles. Social psychiatry views the patient and the context in which he or she lives or works as a field in which one element affects all others in circular fashion.

Family-professional partnerships for addressing Alzheimer's disease.

A partnership project for collaboration between families and professionals was demonstrated in eight Massachusetts communities. The project proved successful in its strategies to heighten public awareness, strengthen interagency networking, and improve community resources.

Screening for vision problems, including Usher's syndrome, among hearing impaired students.

The purpose of this article is to emphasize the importance of screening for vision problems and for Usher's Syndrome among hearing impaired students, and to provide an outline of a vision screening program in central Ohio. The screening program utilizes a dilated ophthalmological exam and an electro-retinogram (ERG), recorded with EEG skin electrodes, for the detection of vision problems and particularly Usher's Syndrome. The program also involves an interagency network of school, health care and support personnel to meet the needs and follow-up care of students identified with vision problems. The initial vision screening of 210 hearing impaired students, from residential and public school programs, revealed that 44 percent have significant vision problems, and that approximately 1 to 2 percent have Usher's Syndrome.

Interorganizational relations in welfare agencies as rituals of Co-optation

Interorganizational relations among community welfare agencies are analyzed as an outgrowth of a legitimacy problem created by the funding of welfare agencies. Research in this area is reviewed and shows the importance of consensus among agencies, and a pattern of asymmetric relationships between agencies, with the smaller, weaker agencies being more involved in interagency relations than the larger agencies with more secure funding. It is argued that grant funding places normative demands on organizations that create legitimacy problems and that these problems, under certain conditions, lead to the process of ritual co-optation found in interagency networks.

Experience with community mental health centers.

The authors report on the experiences gleaned from site visits to federally funded mental health centers that are now in operation. Their most important findings were: the formation of public and nonprofit corporations to serve as planning and fiscal agents facilitates the growth of local interagency networks of service, the organizational structure of a center program determines its capability to deliver services, citizen participation is vital for community support and program planning, and manpower utilization is enhanced by the use of auxiliary mental health workers.