A case study of inter-agency collaboration in the education and promotion of young people's sexual health

A case study of an inter-agency collaboration was carried out through in-depth interviews with 25 staff from four participating professional groups working together in a series of adolescent sexual health initiatives. The staff included teachers, clinical health professionals, youth and community workers and health promotion officers. The results support earlier studies in indicating that effective collaboration is aided by shared aims, mutual respect, and good working relationships. A key finding of this research is that, in the field of sexual health, shared aims and mutual respect among the participants can be achieved by slowly nurtured relationships growing from a clear personal incentive to collaborate. However, this strong interpersonal network was linked with a lack of cross-agency planning at a management level. The challenge is to combine a strategic approach without losing the genuine commitment of participating staff.