Centrality measures as method to identify key stakeholders in family violence councils

The Family Violence Councils (FVC) are collaborative settings that bring together various organizations involved in the system’s response to family violence (e.g., domestic violence shelter programs; law enforcement; courts). FVCs aim to increase coordination among member organizations. Social network analysis (SNA) is a technique that allows one to assess the connections between members (e.g., agencies) within a particular bounded network (i.e., network with a clearly defined set of members; Scott, 1991) and is well-suited to the study of councils. SNA has a variety of tools that can be used to assess the nature of relationships between members (e.g. organizations); centrality measures indicate which members in the network are central and prominent players in the setting. The current study applied three centrality measures in five councils to identify consistent patterns regarding which organizations tend to be most central in the exchange of information among agencies responding to family violence. Identifying consistent central organizations may reveal which organizations are critical to engage to facilitate such information exchange. Further, the study examined whether centrality was related to the degree to which a given organization’s policy and practices were influenced by council efforts. The study found domestic violence programs emerged as central organizations in four of the five sites, but the pattern was unique in each of the five communities. The study also found a relationship between an organization’s centrality and perceived shifts in its policy and practices. The implications of these findings for research and practice will be discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Rana, Shaheen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Allen, Nicole E.

• collaborative settings
• coordinating councils
• social network analysis
• centrality measures

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2010 Shaheen Rana

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/18354

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/18354