Transcript Slide 1

Working Together:
Tips for Creating Successful Community-Academic
Partnerships
Leah Alexander, Ph.D.
April 23, 2009
HOW DO YOU DEFINE
PARTNER????
• One associated with another especially in
action
• A person with whom one shares an intimate
relationship
• Either of two persons that dance together
Challenges to AcademicCommunity Partnerships
•
•
•
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Understanding the meaning of community
Value added by transparent partnership
Power sharing
Community understanding the needs of the
academic partner
• Lack of skill required to build relationships
• Limited resources as well as competing
demands for those resources
More Challenges to AcademicCommunity Partnerships…
• Understanding organizational capacity
• Balancing excellent science with humility and
respect
• Working together amidst ethnic, cultural,
social class and organizational
differences
More Challenges to AcademicCommunity Partnerships…
• Establishing and maintaining trust
• Developing agreed upon goals and objectives
• Significant time required to develop positive
relationships and jointly carry out tasks
CBPR
C BP R
ommunity
ased
articipatory
esearch
• Collaborative approach to research that equitably
involves all partners in the research process and
recognizes the unique strengths that each brings
• It begins with a research topic of interest to the
community with the aim of combining knowledge
and action for social change to improve health and
eliminate health disparities
W.K. Kellogg Community Scholar’s Program (2001)
C BP R
ommunity
ased
articipatory
esearch
• Identified as one of eight areas of critical
importance for public health professionals
• Not methodology
• Its an approach, a framework
• An orientation to research or a process by which
research is conducted
• 9 principles that capture key elements
(Minkler & Wallerstein, 2008)
CBPR recognizes community
as the unit of identity
• A group of people
• Linked by social ties
• Share common perspectives or interests
• May have characteristics in common (heritage,
neighborhood, age, language, religion)
Communities are not always homogeneous and
don’t always speak with one voice
CBPR builds on strengths and
resources within the community
•Resources may include
-Skill and assets of individuals
-Networks of relationships
-Churches and or organizations where
community members come together
•Explicitly seeks to support and expand social
structures
CBPR facilitates collaborative,
equitable partnerships in all research
phases and involves empowering and
power-sharing process that attends to
social inequality
• Focuses on issues and concerns identified by
the community
• All parties participate in and share control
over all phases of the research process
– Problem definition
– Data collection
– Interpretation of results
CBPR promotes co-learning and capacity
building among all partners.
• Reciprocal transfer of knowledge, skills,
capacity
• Researchers can learn from community
members’ “local theories” –
understandings and commonly
held beliefs about the community
CBPR integrates and achieves a
balance between research and
action for the mutual benefit of all
partners
• CBPR seeks to build a broad body of
knowledge about health and well being while
balancing that knowledge with community
and social change efforts that address
concerns of the communities involved
CBPR emphasizes public health problems of local
relevance and also ecological perspectives that
recognize and attend to the multiple determinants
of health and disease
• CBPR focuses a concept of health that includes
physical, mental, and social well-being
• Ecological model of health
-individual, social networks & family
-community, culture , physical
environment, policy
CBPR involves systems
development through a cyclical
and iterative process
• CBPR ensures that the partnership has
competencies to engage in the cyclical & iterative
-Partnership and development & maintenance
-community assessment
-problem definition
-development of research methodology
-data collection, analysis, interpretation
-determination of action and policy implications
-establishing sustainability
CBPR disseminates findings and knowledge
gained to all partners and involves all
partners in the dissemination process
• Peer-reviewed journal vs. popular media
• Language that is understandable & respectful
• Co-authors, co-presenters,
reviewers of publication
CBPR requires a long-term
process and commitment to
sustainability
• Extend beyond a single research project
• Commitment to work together even if funding
isn’t available
Importance of partnership
• CBPR relies on “trust, cooperation, dialogue,
community capacity building, and collaborative
inquiry toward its goal of improving health and
well-being (Minkler & Wallerstein, 2003)
• Forming the partnership is the first
step
• Building a strong partnership takes
time, attention and reflection
A Community-Academic
partnership grounded in CBPR…
PURPOSE
Reduce cancer health disparities among African
Americans by conducting community-based
participatory research, education and training
Significantly improve use of beneficial cancer
interventions in partner communities
Develop well-trained researchers who reduce
disparities in the target communities
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
CBPR PARTNERSHIPS…
• Bridge the GAP between community and
research institutions
• Require GLUE- “The adhesive substance of a
partnership that promotes and sustains trust,
communication, connectedness, and
meaningful work efforts and products”
(www.cbprcurriculum.com)
Memorandum of Understanding
• Document roles and responsibilities
• Document commitment of resources
• Needs to be developed to suit the needs of
the partnership
Partner participation in research tool
development and data collection
• CNP Needs Assessment
– Community survey (1200+)
– Focus groups
– Provider Survey
The most serious mistakes are not made as a result of
wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the
wrong question.
Peter F. Drucker
Community Action Board
• Creating an effective road map for the partnership
• Provides key contacts and strategies
• Provides balance in articulating community health
priorities
• Recruitment strategies, culturally sensitive
approaches, guidance for dissemination
Some Recommendations for
Community-Academic Partnerships
(Norris et al. 2007, www.ccph.com)
• Ensure clear, open, and accessible communication between
partners, making it an ongoing priority to listen to each need
and develop a common language.
• Develop a memorandum of understanding to define roles of
the partnership
• Value community “resident experts”
• Establish community advisory boards
• Recognize the existence of competing agendas- be open,
respectable
Some Recommendations for
Community-Academic Partnerships
(Norris et al. 2007, www.ccph.com)
• Make sure partners share the credit for partnership’s
accomplishments.
• Ensure feedback to, among, and from all stakeholders in the
partnership, with the goal of improving the partnership and
its outcomes
• Respect community member’s time, effort, insights
(recognized with payment for services, authorship)
• Build on existing resources
• Make no assumptions
Some Recommendations for
Community-Academic Partnerships
(Norris et al., 2007, www.ccph.com)
• Be enthusiastic about academic activities and community
activities
• Ensure feedback to, among, and from all stakeholders in the
partnership, with the goal of improving the partnership and
its outcomes
• Use a model where community members act as co-mentors
for entry-level academic faculty who are learning necessary
skill to conduct respectful partnered research
• Be willing to share information about funding and grant
opportunities
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dr. Margaret Hargreaves, PI
Prevention Research Unit Staff
NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
CNP Partners