Modeling the sustainability of community health networks: novel approaches for analyzing collaborative organization partnerships across time

Sustainability is important if community health organizations are to be effective in collaborating to achieve long term health goals. We present a multi-method set of longitudinal analyses examining structural markers applied to a group of organizations brought together to reduce cancer disparities among older African American adults. At the overall network level, sustainability was seen in the growth of outgoing connections and multiplexity. Results of hierarchical clustering analyses identified distinct patterns of collaborative activation over time at the relationship level. Growth modeling indicated the effects of continuing network membership and participation in collaborative events on several structural markers of sustainability. Results of these analyses provide longitudinal indicators for how collaborations among partner organizations impacted their likelihood of continuing in the community network program. The strategy presented here introduces novel methods to assist with planning and evaluation of future community based public health endeavors.