Rising childhood obesity with its detrimental health consequences poses a challenge
to the health care system. Community-based, multi-setting interventions with the participatory
involvement of relevant stakeholders are emerging as promising. To gain insights into the structural
and processual characteristics of stakeholder networks, conducting a network analysis (NA) is
advisable. Within the program “Family+—Healthy Living Together in Families and Schools”, a
network analysis was conducted in two rural model regions and one urban model region. Relevant
stakeholders were identified in 2020–2021 through expert interviews and interviewed by telephone
to elicit key variables such as frequency of contact and intensity of collaboration. Throughout the
NA, characteristics such as density, centrality, and connectedness were analyzed and are presented
graphically. Due to the differences in the number of inhabitants and the rural or urban structure
of the model regions, the three networks (network#1, network#2, and network#3) included 20, 14,
and 12 stakeholders, respectively. All networks had similar densities (network#1, 48%; network#2,
52%; network#3, 42%), whereas the degree centrality of network#1 (0.57) and network#3 (0.58) was
one-third higher compared with network#2 (0.39). All three networks differed in the distribution
of stakeholders in terms of field of expertise and structural orientation. On average, stakeholders
exchanged information quarterly and were connected on an informal level. Based on the results
of the NA, it appears to be useful to initialize a community health facilitator to involve relevant
stakeholders from the education, sports, and health systems in projects and to strive for the goal of
sustainable health promotion, regardless of the rural or urban structure of the region. Participatory
involvement of relevant stakeholders can have a positive influence on the effective dissemination of
information and networking with other stakeholders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:88423 |
| Date | 04 December 2023 |
| Creators | Brauer, Katharina, Wulff, Hagen, Pawellek, Sabine, Alexandra, Alexandra |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 2227-9032, 10.3390/healthcare10081501 |
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