Intersectoral collaboration in a Dutch community health promotion programme: building a coalition and networks

Abstract

Summary In health promotion programmes (HPP), it is crucial to have intersectoral collaboration within coalitions and to build networks between health and other societal sectors. A health broker role is recognized as being helpful in connecting the coalition with the broader network, and participatory action research (PAR) is deemed supportive because it facilitates evaluation, reflection, learning and action. However, there is a lack of insight into how processes that affect collaboration develop over time. Therefore, this study aimed to provide insights into the coalition’s processes that facilitate building and maintaining intersectoral collaboration within a HPP coalition and network and how these processes contribute to the coalition’s ambitions. As part of PAR, the coalition members used the coordinated action checklist (CAC) and composed network analysis (CNA) in 2018 and 2019. The CAC and CNA results were linked back into the coalition in five group sessions and used for reflection on pro-gress and future planning. Coalition governance, interaction with the context, network building and brokerage, and generating visibility emerged as the most prominent processes. Important insights concerned the health broker’s role and positioning, the programme coordinator’s leadership and the importance of visibility and trust leading to investment in continuation. The combined research instruments and group sessions supported discussion and reflection, sharing visions and adjusting working strategies, thereby strengthening the coalition’s capacity. Thus, PAR was useful for evaluating and simultaneously facilitating the processes that affect collaboration.

Multisectoral interventions and health system performance: a systematic review

“…The process indicators addressed included improved access to multisector services through social protection programmes; fund transfer agreements for quality and accountability; integrated monitoring and evaluation; 22 or the importance of strengthening relationships between government agencies to address child nutrition issues. 23 Others advocated measures of suitability of partners, functioning of the coalition, agreement about mission or perceived interpersonal relations between coalition members; 24 or the active involvement of partners. 25 , 40 One study proposed that a strong indicator for a successful collaboration is an increased perceived importance of intersectoral collaboration (in this case, health in all policies).…”

Active and healthy ageing in urban environments: laying the groundwork for solution-building through citizen science

“…This provides a strong groundwork for CSS research to be driven by localized concerns of local people through directly engaging with residents and constituents and identifying ways to answer to their needs. Furthermore, it presents the foundation for strengthening collaboration and building a network of stakeholders based on their common framing of local urban spaces, demonstrating the potential for local joint action ( Housley, 2018 ; Orton et al , 2019 ; de Jong et al , 2022 ).…”

Unravelling mechanisms underlying the action principles of a community-based health promotion programme: a realist evaluation

“…Thanks to the PAR activities, along the way, awareness of outcomes grew, and subsequently confidence in the programme approach and the collaboration that had been built up increased. It helped stakeholders to recognise the processes that evolved and to act upon them and to pay more attention to the visibility of their achievements, such as the new health promotion activities and the extended and strengthened communitywide collaboration (38). Therefore, it is recommended to apply PAR as an indispensable part of a principle-based CBHPP, because it adapts to the particular situation in practice and always takes into account the perspectives of the persons involved.…”

“…During the programme, stakeholders were continually involved, and different perspectives of citizens and professionals were captured and used to optimize consequent actions. As such, the development of capacities, learning, and empowerment was facilitated [38,39].…”

“…The coalition members built a communitywide network of organisations, workers, and citizens based on the existing social infrastructure and the contacts that each of them brought in. The health broker role was essential in connecting the VoM coalition with the broader network and in facilitating citizen participation [38]. Citizens' perspectives on health were explored with existing community groups -consisting of Voorstad inhabitants (e.g., a walking, a yoga, and a knitting group) and volunteers at a community centre and a play garden -in two group sessions with each group [39].…”