Enhancing the viability of a social-media tool that can monitor and measure connectivity across the public health field

This project will provide technical assistance for PARTNER (Program to Analyze, Record, and Track Networks to Enhance Relationships), a tool for social-network data collection and analysis that allows public health departments to measure and monitor their connectivity with other organizations over time. PARTNER, developed in 2006 by Danielle Varda with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, enables collaboratives to demonstrate to stakeholders, community members and funders how their collaborative activity has changed or improved over time, including how community organizations participate. Although a variety of users continue to implement the program, it lacks a component to takes users from a common starting point to a common ending point for implementation. This project will provide that component along with standardized analysis and dissemination of PARTNER data (in such a way that will be recognized and compared across users). Specifically, this project will include: (1) a series of Web demos that walk users through the first step of implementation to data analysis and interpretation; (2) creation of templates for data analysis and dissemination, and as documentation (for example, as a possible tool for accreditation reporting) in the form of reports, PowerPoint presentations and posters; (3) continued enhancements to the online survey and data-management system to improve access to the tool by users; and (4) training workshops in evidence-based strategic collaborative management to assist users in action planning for performance improvement, using their data from social-network analysis.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $199,835.00

Awarded on: 6/16/2010

Time frame: 7/1/2010 - 6/30/2012

Grant Number: 67865