ArticleBMJ open2019
Tackling the wicked problem of health networks: the design of an evaluation framework.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Frameworks for developing and evaluating public health interventions in primary prevention and health promotion: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Summative evaluation of the rural surgical obstetrical networks initiative: Findings from a five year retrospective qualitative study.PloS one · 2026Article
- Factors Influencing Perceived Multidisciplinary Team Meeting Effectiveness in Teams Addressing Work-Related Respiratory Diseases: A Qualitative Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2026Article
- How do clinical networks operationalize safety and quality stewardship? A qualitative study of Australian clinical networks.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- The determinants of evidence use by Australian clinical networks as agents and stewards of safety and quality: a conceptual framework.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Evaluating the impact, implementation experience and political economy of primary care networks in Kenya: protocol for a mixed methods study.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Developing a values-based interorganisational Care at the End-of-Life Collaborative framework for the Australian context: A mixed-methods, practice-based research protocol.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Article
- Beyond tame solutions: a new paradigm for injury prevention in sports.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- Observational
- Primary care networks as a means of supporting primary care: findings from qualitative case study-based evaluation in the English NHS.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Evaluating primary care networks in low-income and lower middle-income countries: a scoping review.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Describing the state of a research network: A mixed methods approach to network evaluation.Research Evaluation · 2023Article
- Using social networks to scale up and sustain community-based programmes to improve physical activity and diet in low-income and middle-income countries: a scoping review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2023Article
- New ZealandInternational journal of health policy and management · 2023Article
- Using Network and Complexity Theories to Understand the Functionality of Referral Systems for Surgical Patients in Resource-Limited Settings, the Case of Malawi.International journal of health policy and management · 2022Article
- Network evaluation of an innovation platform in continuous quality improvement in Australian Indigenous primary healthcare.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Article
- What Works in Community-Led Suicide Prevention: Perspectives of Wesley LifeForce Network Coordinators.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- The three numbers you need to know about healthcare: the 60-30-10 Challenge.BMC medicine · 2020Article
- How does a Network Platform Work for Participating Actors Towards Integrated Care Governance? A Case Study of a Dutch Hospital Region.International journal of integrated careArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Networks are everywhere. Health systems and public health settings are experimenting with multifarious forms. Governments and providers are heavily investing in networks with an expectation that they will facilitate the delivery of better services and improve health outcomes. Yet, we lack a suitable conceptual framework to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of clinical and health networks. This paper aims to present such a framework to assist with rigorous research and policy analysis. The framework was designed as part of a project to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of health networks. We drew on systematic reviews of the literature on networks and communities of practice in health care, and on theoretical and evidence-based studies of the evaluation of health and non-health networks. Using brainstorming and mind-mapping techniques in expert advisory group sessions, we assessed existing network evaluation frameworks and considered their application to extant health networks. Feedback from stakeholders in network studies that we conducted was incorporated. The framework encompasses network goals, characteristics and relationships at member, network and community levels, and then looks at network outcomes, taking into account intervening variables. Finally, the short-term, medium-term and long-term effectiveness of the network needs to be assessed. The framework provides an overarching contribution to network evaluation. It is sufficiently comprehensive to account for many theoretical and evidence-based contributions to the literature on how networks operate and is sufficiently flexible to assess different kinds of health networks across their life-cycle at community, network and member levels. We outline the merits and limitations of the framework and discuss how it might be further tested.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.