gms | German Medical Science

Background and Purpose: Social network analysis (SNA) is a relational research method in empirical social research for analysing social relationships and social networks. SNA offers insights, into the way information flows between individuals, teams, institutions and other social structures. It enables the researcher to visualise and analyse various social networks, such as support networks of caregiving relatives or interdisciplinary exchange of information in hospitals or nursing homes. In SNA, these complex processes may not only be analysed punctually but in their entirety. Every health topic can be viewed through the network perspective, when it comes to relationship or communication, in the broadest sense between people to visualize complex processes in their entirely.

However, SNA is relatively new to the field of nursing and nursing researchers may face several challenges when employing it.

Research Focus: Therefore, the aim of this presentation is to discuss the methodological possibilities and limitations of the SNA in nursing science in context of a recent research project about the diet in geriatric long-term care. This project focuses on how diet is organized in a nursing home and how individual professions influence and interact within this process. It serves as an example that nursing research questions may often require a combination of total and personal network analysis.

Results/Conclusions: SNA may be a valuable methodology for nursing science, although a critical discussion and empirical research is still lacking. Particularly, longitudinal, interventional and multi-site research is needed to uncover underlying network structures, outcomes of differing structures and the impact of interventions on network outcomes.