Exploring the Process, Models, and Outcomes of Hospital-Public Health Partnerships

Bridging Gaps in Collaboration Between Community Organizations and Hospital-Based Violence Treatment Centers Serving Transgender Sexual Assault Survivors

“…In a 2013 policy-to-action report, the World Health Organization (2013) asserted that "community organizations may be best placed to support the delivery of health programmes" (p. 48), while empowering communities and strengthening their relationships with hospital-based settings can help close health equity gaps. Multi-sector or intersectoral networks, which bring together different organizations to solve complex problems whose solutions lie outside the reach of a single sector, have proven especially successful in advancing health equity by standardizing approaches, sharing resources, exchanging knowledge, and leveraging interdisciplinary approaches to meet social and health needs (Chapman & Varda 2017;Ndumbe-Eyoh & Moffatt 2013;Varda et al, 2014). Intersectoral networks have been proposed as a potential response to sexual violence, a complex and pernicious health equity issue (Trentin et al, 2019).…”

“…This study formed part of a larger baseline evaluation of the trans-LINK Network (see also Du Mont et al, 2023;Du Mont, Lebel, et al, 2022) and used social network analysis as a methodological approach to examine the extent of Network collaboration by relationship type: community organization with community organization (intrasectoral), hospital-based violence treatment center with hospital-based violence treatment center (intrasectoral), and community organization with hospital-based violence treatment center (intersectoral). This approach is particularly suited to examining differences in intrasectoral and intersectoral collaborations in public health networks, including those that comprised both community and hospital organizations (Varda et al, 2014). The nature of collaborations was also compared by relationship type using scores for value (i.e., power, level of involvement, and potential resource contribution) and trust (i.e., reliability, mission congruence, and openness to discussion) (Du Mont et al, 2023), key antecedents of network success that indicate effective cooperation, integration of activities, and willingness to incorporate multiple viewpoints when working toward the achievement of shared objectives and goals (Bevc et al, 2015;Chapman & Varda, 2017;Varda et al, 2014;Varda & Sprong, 2020).…”

“…This approach is particularly suited to examining differences in intrasectoral and intersectoral collaborations in public health networks, including those that comprised both community and hospital organizations (Varda et al, 2014). The nature of collaborations was also compared by relationship type using scores for value (i.e., power, level of involvement, and potential resource contribution) and trust (i.e., reliability, mission congruence, and openness to discussion) (Du Mont et al, 2023), key antecedents of network success that indicate effective cooperation, integration of activities, and willingness to incorporate multiple viewpoints when working toward the achievement of shared objectives and goals (Bevc et al, 2015;Chapman & Varda, 2017;Varda et al, 2014;Varda & Sprong, 2020). Finally, this study captured challenges to intersectoral collaboration experienced by community organizations and hospital-based violence treatment centers and determined strategies to specifically address them.…”