Applying social network analysis to understand the knowledge sharing behaviour of practitioners in a clinical discussion forum

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dc.contributor.authorStewart, S.A.
dc.contributor.authorAbidi, S.S.
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-13T15:47:30Z
dc.date.available2013-03-13T15:47:30Z
dc.date.issued2012-12
dc.description.abstractBackground: KT plays a vital role in the modern health care community, facilitating the incorporation of new evidence into practice. Web 2.0 tools provide a useful mechanism for establishing an online KT environment in which health practitioners share their practice-related knowledge and experiences with an online community of practice. We have implemented a Web 2.0 based KT environment—i.e. an online discussion forum—for pediatric pain practitioners across seven different hospitals in Thailand. The online discussion forum enabled the pediatric pain practitioners to share and translate their experiential knowledge to help improve the management of pediatric pain in hospitals. Objective: The goal of this research is to investigate the knowledge sharing dynamics of a community of practice through an online discussion forum. We evaluate the communication patterns of the community members using statistical and social network analysis methods in order to better understand how the online community engages to share experiential knowledge. Methods: Statistical analyses and visualizations provide a broad overview of the communication patterns within the discussion forum. Social network analysis provides the tools to delve deeper into the social network, identifying the most active members of the community, reporting the overall health of the social network , isolating the potential core members of the social network, and exploring the inter-group relationships that exist across institutions and professions. Results: The statistical analyses revealed a network dominated by a single institution and a single profession, and found a varied relationship between reading and posting content to the discussion forum. The social network analysis discovered a healthy network with strong communication patterns, while identifying which users are at the centre of the community in terms of facilitating communication. The group-level analysis suggests that there is strong inter-professional and interregional communication, but a dearth of non-nurse participants has been identified as a shortcoming. Conclusion: The results of the analysis suggest that the discussion forum is active and healthy, and that, though few, the inter-professional and inter-institutional ties are strong. Future work should be on connecting more analytic techniques.en
dc.identifier.citationStewart, S.A., & Abidi, S.S. (2012). Applying Social Network Analysis to Understand the Knowledge Sharing Behaviour of Practitioners In a Clinical Discussion Forum. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 14.doi:10.2196/jmir.1982en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10625/50851
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherPubMeden
dc.subjectWEB 2.0en
dc.subjectHEALTH KNOWLEDGEen
dc.subjectATTITUDESen
dc.subjectPRACTICEen
dc.subjectKNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTen
dc.subjectINFORMATION DISSEMINATIONen
dc.subjectPAINen
dc.subjectPEDIATRICSen
dc.subjectPEDIATRIC HOSPITALSen
dc.subjectEDUCATIONen
dc.subjectPROFESSIONALen
dc.subjectELECTRONIC MAILen
dc.subjectKNOWLEDGE TRANSFERen
dc.subjectSOCIAL NETWORKSen
dc.subjectTHAILANDen
dc.titleApplying social network analysis to understand the knowledge sharing behaviour of practitioners in a clinical discussion forumen
dc.typeJournal Article (peer-reviewed)en
idrc.dspace.accessIDRC Onlyen
idrc.noaccessDue to copyright restrictions the full text of this research output is not available in the IDRC Digital Library or by request from the IDRC Library. / Compte tenu des restrictions relatives au droit d'auteur, le texte intégral de cet extrant de recherche n'est pas accessible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI, et il n'est pas possible d'en faire la demande à la Bibliothéque du CRDI.en
idrc.project.componentnumber103460055
idrc.project.number103460
idrc.project.titleTeasdale-Corti Global Health Research Partnershipen
idrc.rims.adhocgroupIDRC SUPPORTEDen

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