title: Process mapping as a tool for home health network analysis.
abstract: Process mapping is a qualitative tool that allows service providers, policy makers, researchers, and other concerned stakeholders to get a "bird's eye view" of a home health care organizational network or a very focused, in-depth view of a component of such a network. It can be used to share knowledge about community resources directed at the older population, identify gaps in resource availability and access, and promote on-going collaborative interactions that encourage systemic policy reassessment and programmatic refinement. This article is a methodological description of process mapping, which explores its utility as a practice and research tool, illustrates its use in describing service-providing networks, and discusses some of the issues that are key to successfully using this methodology.
authors.affiliation: Prevention Research Center, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA. dmpluto@sph.sc.edu
authors.forename: Delores M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Pluto
authors.forename: Barbara A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Hirshorn
mesh_terms: D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007324:Institutional Management Teams; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D008377:Maps as Topic; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D012985:Software Design; D013597:Systems Analysis; D014481:United States