Evaluating Service System Coordination from the Providers’ Perspective

Network analysis involves the examination of the structure and patterning of relationships among a set of persons or agencies by taking into account the relations or ties that exist, as well as those that do not, among various groups (Knoke & Kuklinski, 1982). For the evaluation project, the structure of relationships within the county behavioral health service network, were examined over the course of three years. The method applied interorganizational theory and a network analytic approach, based on the works of Heflinger and Northrup (Heflinger, 1996; Heflinger & Northrup, 1998, 2000a), Morrissey and colleagues (Morrissey et al., 1994, 1998; Morrissey, 1992; Morrissey, Tausig, & Lindsey, 1985), Van de Ven (1976), and Bolland and Wilson (1991a, 1991b, 1994).