The Contribution of the Sociology of Organizations to the Development of Complex Interventions in Health: Concepts, Methods, and the Example of the ORANEAT Program

Identifying contextual factors is crucial for developing and evaluating prevention intervention programs that are both effective and efficient. Among these factors, organizational contexts are receiving increasing attention, although this is not always accompanied by an openness to the methods and concepts developed by organizational theory. This working paper presents the methodological approach and key concepts of a specific research tradition known as the strategic analysis of organizations or the French school of organizational sociology. This tradition emphasizes the informal structure of organized action, conceived as the result of power relations and dynamics of cooperation to carry out a given activity. This working paper demonstrates how this approach provides a useful framework for public health interventions and research. It positions the organization at the interface between the intervention and its implementation context, echoing certain public health approaches that encourage the study of the interaction between the "context system" and the "intervention system" in complex programs or interventions. The ORANEAT program on the appropriate use of antibiotics illustrates the value this approach can bring to public health research and intervention, as it has integrated this approach into every stage of the program, from its development to its evaluation.