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Table 4 Network alteration strategies (n = 53 records)

From: Developing a typology of network alteration strategies for implementation: a scoping review and iterative synthesis

Name

Definition

Target

n

Citations

Create groups

To bring network actors together and align their activities around shared identity or goals in the form of groups. The group could be formed to:

1) provide ‘collective support’ for group participants

2) Provide support for a focal actor

3) Create community around a shared identity (professional identity)

4) Carrying out collective efforts (planning, decision making)

5) Promote shared learning (group training)

Context

30

[30, 36, 38, 49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75]

Change the environment

Modifications or shifts in actors’ environment that lead them to alter their relationships to adapt. These environmental changes can be outside the network boundary:

1) Changing Resources

2) New Opportunities or Events

Or within the network:

3) Changing network culture or norms

Context

18

[30, 50,51,52,53, 59, 61, 64, 72, 76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84]

Change the composition

Changing the composition of the network by adding and/or removing actors

Context

13

[51, 54, 59,60,61, 65, 76, 79, 82, 85,86,87,88]

Change actors’ networking skills

Changes or improves actors’ skills for connecting or working with others in the network. These strategies can be:

1) Group interventions focused on altering skills for dyadic interactions

2) One-on-one interventions focused on altering skills for dyadic interactions

3) Group interventions on general networking skills

4) One-on-one interventions on general networking skills

Actors

19

[50, 51, 54, 56, 58, 62, 64, 71, 73, 75,76,77, 85, 86, 88,89,90,91,92]

Change actor awareness and/or knowledge of the network

Builds or changes actors’ knowledge and/or awareness of other actors in the network, and/or their connections to them through:

1) Personal mapping to identify those in an actor’s network

2) Inventories/Directories

3) Labeling specific actors

4)“Get to know you” sessions

Actors

13

[62, 70, 74, 75, 78, 83, 85, 88, 90, 92,93,94,95]

Change actor prominence

Changing the centrality (e.g. popularity, mediation, etc.) of some actors (e.g. champions, study participants, or actors with certain characteristics), in relation to others by:

1) Increasing actors’ knowledge or skill through training

2) Decentralizing actors’ with negative behaviors through reinforcements

3) Identifying/labeling actors with expertise as ambassadors or leaders

Actors

9

[22, 62, 78, 84, 90, 91, 95,96,97]

Change actor motivations to connect

Changing an actors’ motivation to interact with others in the network by:

1) Educating actors’ about benefits/consequences of interactions

2) Incentivizing interaction

Actors

12

[51, 75, 78, 82, 83, 85, 90,91,92,93, 95, 96]

Change specific ties

Targeting specific types of relationships, or specific ties between selected actors for formation, strengthening, or dissolution by:

1) Strategically selecting actors to form a group or pair

2) Introduce incentives to form a specific type of relationship

3) Train actors to dissolve a specific relationship

Ties

14

[36, 38, 54, 57, 59, 61, 64, 66, 68, 78, 88, 91, 93, 96]