Collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health: a scoping review

Objectives Cross-sector collaboration has been encouraged to improve population health. Both local authorities and civil society organisations impact population health, but less is known about how the actual process of collaboration is done. This scoping review aims to explore how local authorities...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Anna Bergstrom, Henna Hasson, Leif Eriksson, Annika Bäck, Michaela Modin Asper, Stephanie Madsen, Veronica Aurelia Costea
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2025-03-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/3/e092525.full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849388305521573888
author Anna Bergstrom
Henna Hasson
Leif Eriksson
Annika Bäck
Michaela Modin Asper
Stephanie Madsen
Veronica Aurelia Costea
author_facet Anna Bergstrom
Henna Hasson
Leif Eriksson
Annika Bäck
Michaela Modin Asper
Stephanie Madsen
Veronica Aurelia Costea
author_sort Anna Bergstrom
collection DOAJ
description Objectives Cross-sector collaboration has been encouraged to improve population health. Both local authorities and civil society organisations impact population health, but less is known about how the actual process of collaboration is done. This scoping review aims to explore how local authorities and civil society organisations collaborate with the ambition to improve population health.Design This scoping review was informed by the guidance of the Joanna Briggs Institute, and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews.Data sources Medline, Web of Science, CINAHL and Sociological Abstracts were searched from inception to September 2022.Eligibility criteria We included peer-reviewed empirical studies that describe the initiation, execution or sustainment of collaboration for health between local authorities and civil society organisations.Data extraction and synthesis Two independent reviewers extracted data, which was summarised and analysed using inductive content analysis.Results In the 79 included articles, collaborations between local authorities and civil society organisations entailed many different aspects, from exchanging knowledge, allocating resources, providing different types of support or human resources, training, forming different working groups, agreements and working plans to gathering data for needs analysis or evaluation. Few articles described how the collaboration had been initiated or sustained. Initiation was done through advocacy, needs assessments, making a request, creating a workgroup and conducting a pilot study. Sustainment efforts were continuous meetings, documents and tools, funding, and different plans and work structures. There were often additional actors involved in the collaborations. Information about study design was often not described in a clear and comparative manner.Conclusions There is a need for more research on the details of initiating, executing and sustaining collaborations for health between local authorities and civil society organisations. Knowledge from this scoping review can be used to inform the planning of future collaborations between local authorities and civil society organisations.
format Article
id doaj-art-d1d1a2808f724f7e8a5c471e08bcf850
institution Kabale University
issn 2044-6055
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher BMJ Publishing Group
record_format Article
series BMJ Open
spelling doaj-art-d1d1a2808f724f7e8a5c471e08bcf8502025-08-20T03:42:21ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552025-03-0115310.1136/bmjopen-2024-092525Collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health: a scoping reviewAnna Bergstrom0Henna Hasson1Leif Eriksson2Annika Bäck3Michaela Modin Asper4Stephanie Madsen5Veronica Aurelia Costea61 Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Medical Management Centre, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden1 Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Medical Management Centre, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden2 Unit for Implementation and Evaluation, Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden1 Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Medical Management Centre, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden2 Unit for Implementation and Evaluation, Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden2 Unit for Implementation and Evaluation, Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden1 Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Medical Management Centre, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, SwedenObjectives Cross-sector collaboration has been encouraged to improve population health. Both local authorities and civil society organisations impact population health, but less is known about how the actual process of collaboration is done. This scoping review aims to explore how local authorities and civil society organisations collaborate with the ambition to improve population health.Design This scoping review was informed by the guidance of the Joanna Briggs Institute, and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews.Data sources Medline, Web of Science, CINAHL and Sociological Abstracts were searched from inception to September 2022.Eligibility criteria We included peer-reviewed empirical studies that describe the initiation, execution or sustainment of collaboration for health between local authorities and civil society organisations.Data extraction and synthesis Two independent reviewers extracted data, which was summarised and analysed using inductive content analysis.Results In the 79 included articles, collaborations between local authorities and civil society organisations entailed many different aspects, from exchanging knowledge, allocating resources, providing different types of support or human resources, training, forming different working groups, agreements and working plans to gathering data for needs analysis or evaluation. Few articles described how the collaboration had been initiated or sustained. Initiation was done through advocacy, needs assessments, making a request, creating a workgroup and conducting a pilot study. Sustainment efforts were continuous meetings, documents and tools, funding, and different plans and work structures. There were often additional actors involved in the collaborations. Information about study design was often not described in a clear and comparative manner.Conclusions There is a need for more research on the details of initiating, executing and sustaining collaborations for health between local authorities and civil society organisations. Knowledge from this scoping review can be used to inform the planning of future collaborations between local authorities and civil society organisations.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/3/e092525.full
spellingShingle Anna Bergstrom
Henna Hasson
Leif Eriksson
Annika Bäck
Michaela Modin Asper
Stephanie Madsen
Veronica Aurelia Costea
Collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health: a scoping review
BMJ Open
title Collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health: a scoping review
title_full Collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health: a scoping review
title_fullStr Collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health: a scoping review
title_full_unstemmed Collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health: a scoping review
title_short Collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health: a scoping review
title_sort collaboration between local authorities and civil society organisations for improving health a scoping review
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/3/e092525.full
work_keys_str_mv AT annabergstrom collaborationbetweenlocalauthoritiesandcivilsocietyorganisationsforimprovinghealthascopingreview
AT hennahasson collaborationbetweenlocalauthoritiesandcivilsocietyorganisationsforimprovinghealthascopingreview
AT leiferiksson collaborationbetweenlocalauthoritiesandcivilsocietyorganisationsforimprovinghealthascopingreview
AT annikaback collaborationbetweenlocalauthoritiesandcivilsocietyorganisationsforimprovinghealthascopingreview
AT michaelamodinasper collaborationbetweenlocalauthoritiesandcivilsocietyorganisationsforimprovinghealthascopingreview
AT stephaniemadsen collaborationbetweenlocalauthoritiesandcivilsocietyorganisationsforimprovinghealthascopingreview
AT veronicaaureliacostea collaborationbetweenlocalauthoritiesandcivilsocietyorganisationsforimprovinghealthascopingreview