NETWORK – BASED SOCIAL CAPITAL AND CAPACITY

BUILDING PROGRAMS: AND EXAMPLE FROM ETHIOPIA

Shoba Ramanadhan, Soseda Kebede, Jeannie Mantopoulos and Elizabeth Bradley

Presented by: Jeromeo Jose (MAHESOS)

Introduction One particular focus of the Global health

agenda is to development of sufficient workforce capacity.

Management and leadership training programs have improved process related outcomes Improvement of human capital

Another benefit Improvement of social capital

Network perspective on social capital The extent to which an individual can

realize the benefits of social capital is a function of that individual's position in a given social network

Focused on:resources that can be accessed by network

membersstructure of relationships or linkages in a

network of interest

Case description Setting

Two-year executive-education Master of Hospital and Healthcare Administration (MHA)

Study design and respondentscross-sectional study at the end of the first year

of the MHA program to describe the social networks that developed during the year

Data were collected with a self-administered survey of two groups of respondents: trainees and supporters.

Case description Data collection and measures

Focused on two networks:○ Trainee Network (25)○ Trainee-Supporter Network, (63) trainees and

supporters (educators and mentors, 38)Measures of interest

○ Network density, isolates, components○ Degree○ Informational and functional exchanges

Analysis Sociometric network analysis

 assess the connections between all members of each network of interest, supporting evaluation of network growth and resource exchange

Results - trainees

Descriptive measuresMeasure Pre-MHA Year 1Network-level measures

Density 0.04 0.13Isolates 7 0Components 2 1Individual-level measures

Degree Mean: 1.92SD: 1.79

Mean: 4.88SD: 4.42

Trainee out-degree Mean: 1.04SD: 1.43

Mean:3.00SD: 4.62

Trainee in-degree Mean: 1.04SD: 1.25

Mean: 3.00SD: 1.67

Ramanadhan et al. Human Resources for Health 2010 8:17   doi:10.1186/1478-4491-8-17

Informational and functional exchanges

Results – trainee -supporter

Descriptive measuresMeasure Pre-MHA Year 1Network-level measures

Density 0.03 0.13Density between and within groups of trainees and supporters

Among trainees: 0.04From trainees to supporters: 0.03From supporters to trainees: 0.00Among supporters: 0.05

Among trainees: 0.13From trainees to supporters: 0.20From supporters to trainees: 0.12Among supporters: 0.09

Isolates 8 2Components 1 component + isolates 1 component + isolatesIndividual-level measures

Degree Mean: 3.52 / SD: 3.11 Mean: 14.22 / SD: 10.81Out-degree Mean: 1.87 / SD: 2.88 Mean: 8.14 / SD: 10.81In-degree Mean: 1.87 / SD: 1.77 Mean: 8.14 / SD: 5.68Trainee-supporter out-degree Mean: 1.04 / SD: 1.46 Mean: 8.26 / SD: 5.82

Ramanadhan et al. Human Resources for Health 2010 8:17   doi:10.1186/1478-4491-8-17

Informational and functional exchanges

Discussion and evaluation Networks have developed - number of

connections within the network was associated with likelihood of resource exchange

Limited resources for communication may have inhibited network development of some network members

Discussion and evaluation Evidence of the benefits of diverse

connections for program participants and found that program participants were able to gain different categories of resources from different types of network members

Lessons learned:Increase network-based resourcesEffective if integrated as explicit goals of programsDevelopment of relationships should extend both to

fellow trainees as well as supporters of the traineesImportance of enabling environment

Conclusions Network-based social capital may be a

useful addition to the goals and evaluation

Social capital deserves further attention in capacity-building efforts

Capacity-building programs can build stronger healthcare workforces in low- and middle-income countries