Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods Study
Partnerships are an important mechanism to tackle complex problems that extend beyond traditional organizational divides. Partnerships are widely endorsed, but there is a need to strengthen the evidence base relating to claims of their effectiveness. This article presents findings from a mixed metho...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/1060 |
| _version_ | 1797523722991566848 |
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| author | Ekaterina Loban Catherine Scott Virginia Lewis Susan Law Jeannie Haggerty |
| author_facet | Ekaterina Loban Catherine Scott Virginia Lewis Susan Law Jeannie Haggerty |
| author_sort | Ekaterina Loban |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Partnerships are an important mechanism to tackle complex problems that extend beyond traditional organizational divides. Partnerships are widely endorsed, but there is a need to strengthen the evidence base relating to claims of their effectiveness. This article presents findings from a mixed methods study conducted with the aim of understanding partnership processes and how various partnership factors contribute to partnership effectiveness. The study involved five multi-stakeholder partnerships in Canada and Australia working towards improving accessibility to primary health care for vulnerable populations. Qualitative data were collected through the observation of 14 partnership meetings and individual semi-structured interviews (<i>n</i> = 16) and informed the adaptation of an existing Partnership Self-Assessment Tool. The instrument was administered to five partnerships (<i>n</i> = 54). The results highlight partnership complexity and the dynamic and contingent nature of partnership processes. Synergistic action among multiple stakeholders was achieved through enabling processes at the interpersonal, operational and system levels. Synergy was associated with partnership leadership, administration and management, decision-making, the ability of partnerships to optimize the involvement of partners and the sufficiency of non-financial resources. The Partnership Synergy framework was useful in assessing the intermediate outcomes of ongoing partnerships when it was too early to assess the achievement of long-term intended outcomes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:47:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ab74f88230504f0f8214e22f3e631acc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:47:04Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-ab74f88230504f0f8214e22f3e631acc2023-11-22T07:50:18ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322021-08-0198106010.3390/healthcare9081060Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods StudyEkaterina Loban0Catherine Scott1Virginia Lewis2Susan Law3Jeannie Haggerty4St. Mary’s Research Centre, Montreal, QC H3T 1M5, CanadaDepartment of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4Z6, CanadaAustralian Institute for Primary Care & Ageing, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, AustraliaInstitute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M6, CanadaSt. Mary’s Research Centre, Montreal, QC H3T 1M5, CanadaPartnerships are an important mechanism to tackle complex problems that extend beyond traditional organizational divides. Partnerships are widely endorsed, but there is a need to strengthen the evidence base relating to claims of their effectiveness. This article presents findings from a mixed methods study conducted with the aim of understanding partnership processes and how various partnership factors contribute to partnership effectiveness. The study involved five multi-stakeholder partnerships in Canada and Australia working towards improving accessibility to primary health care for vulnerable populations. Qualitative data were collected through the observation of 14 partnership meetings and individual semi-structured interviews (<i>n</i> = 16) and informed the adaptation of an existing Partnership Self-Assessment Tool. The instrument was administered to five partnerships (<i>n</i> = 54). The results highlight partnership complexity and the dynamic and contingent nature of partnership processes. Synergistic action among multiple stakeholders was achieved through enabling processes at the interpersonal, operational and system levels. Synergy was associated with partnership leadership, administration and management, decision-making, the ability of partnerships to optimize the involvement of partners and the sufficiency of non-financial resources. The Partnership Synergy framework was useful in assessing the intermediate outcomes of ongoing partnerships when it was too early to assess the achievement of long-term intended outcomes.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/1060partnershipsprimary health carepartnership synergyorganizational transformationhealth system improvement |
| spellingShingle | Ekaterina Loban Catherine Scott Virginia Lewis Susan Law Jeannie Haggerty Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods Study Healthcare partnerships primary health care partnership synergy organizational transformation health system improvement |
| title | Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods Study |
| title_full | Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods Study |
| title_fullStr | Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods Study |
| title_short | Activating Partnership Assets to Produce Synergy in Primary Health Care: A Mixed Methods Study |
| title_sort | activating partnership assets to produce synergy in primary health care a mixed methods study |
| topic | partnerships primary health care partnership synergy organizational transformation health system improvement |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/1060 |
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