Assessing the Development of Collective Impact Initiatives Addressing Maternal and Child Health

Abstract

Purpose To examine the extent to which communities participating in the Collective Impact Learning Collaborative (CILC) increased capacity to create conditions for collective impact (CI) to address racial disparities in maternal and child health (MCH) and align local efforts with state MCH priorities over a 12-month period. Description Eight communities participated in a learning collaborative that involved the provision of technical assistance via webinars, monthly team calls, and site visits to facilitate the development of a collective impact initiative. A Ready-Set-Go approach to technical assistance was used to guide the communities through each phase of development while also providing individual assistance to teams based on their capacity at the start of participation. Assessment A pre/post design measured change in capacity to engage in CI efforts over time. A survey designed to assess the completion of core tasks related to early indicators of CI was completed at baseline and 12 months later. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test and Mann-Whitney test determined statistically significant progress towards outcomes over 12 months and differences in progress between high-and low-capacity teams. Conclusion In 12 months, teams with little established groundwork made significant progress, in some ways exceeding progress of more established teams. Statistically significant progress was achieved in eleven of fourteen outcomes measured. Five teams aligned local efforts with state priorities after 12 months. Findings suggest technical assistance to establish conditions for collective impact can support progress even when pre-conditions for collective impact are not previously established.Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Collective Impact Partnership and Backbone Organizations as Enablers of Children’s Well-Being

“…The local collaborative partners involved in these regional CI initiatives were typically local government (Amed et al 2015(Amed et al , 2016, community stakeholders such as schools, community services, local media, NGOs (Blake-Lamb et al 2018), healthcare professionals such as community health centers (Meinen et al 2016;Landry et al 2020;Weaver et al 2017) and/or organizations directly serving low-income, ethnic minority populations (Leruth et al 2017;Blake-Lamb et al 2018), and local businesses such as store owners providing "healthy products" (Bonnevie et al 2020). Some of the reviewed CI initiatives were structured such that the local partnerships were connected to a wider, multiregional network, for example through the use of a widely used intervention or program (Amed et al 2015(Amed et al , 2016Blake-Lamb et al 2018;Bonnevie et al 2020;Leruth et al 2017).…”

“…Some CI initiatives focusing on support for early childhood development and maternal and child health had, in addition to a local collaborative structure between local hospitals and local community organizations, an additional collaborative structure across several districts (Gillam et al 2016;Landry et al 2020;Morgan et al 2020, Weaver et al 2017. In these multiregional CI initiatives, the local stakeholders highlighted the significance of policy mandates and informal relationships between partners as having a positive impact on collaboration between partners (Gillam et al 2016).…”

“…In these multiregional CI initiatives, the local stakeholders highlighted the significance of policy mandates and informal relationships between partners as having a positive impact on collaboration between partners (Gillam et al 2016). In addition, "an influential champion" a recognized expert in the fieldwas seen as a key person to help bring the required partners together to engage in collaboration (Landry et al 2020).…”

Who gets included in Collective Impact: A mixed methods study of 10 CI initiatives

“…These findings should inform the field of MCH, which has relied heavily on the CI model for almost a decade. Other analyses have focused on the programmatic efficacy of CI for MCH practice (Landry, Collie-Akers, Foster, Pecha, & Abresch, 2020); however, the question of who gets included in CI efforts to improve the health of women and children has not been addressed until now.…”

Using Collective Impact to Develop a Community-Led Initiative for Improving Black Infant Mortality

“…Generate Health is addressing infant mortality through one of its current initiatives: FLOURISH, using a collective impact conceptual framework. Collective impact describes a collaborative strategy that encourages multi-sector stakeholders to adopt a common agenda for complex issues (Collective Impact Forum, 2014; Landry et al, 2020). In addition, collective impact incorporates shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and a backbone infrastructure (Landry et al, 2020).…”