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Abstract
Background: Process evaluation of community-academic partnership function and fidelity to principles of communitybased participatory research (CBPR) is essential to achievement of intermediate and long term partnership goals.
Objectives: This article describes the evaluation of B Free CEED, a community-academic partnership created to address hepatitis health disparities in Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) communities.
Methods: A mixed methods approach with an online survey and qualitative key informant interviews was conducted with all partnership members at baseline and follow-up, 18 months later.
Results: Survey findings showed stability over time, with some consistent differences in community and academic perspectives. Academic members were somewhat more satisfied with the partnership functioning. Key informant interviews provided contextual data key to further defining partnership functioning.
Conclusions: Conducting ongoing partnership evaluations is necessary to reassess and align processes and protocols to enhance partnership functioning and strengthen group cohesion.
Keywords
Community-based participatory research, community networks, hepatitis B, organizational decision making, program efficiency, program evaluation
Community-academic partnerships to improve health have increased appreciably over the last decade as a strategy to address health inequalities.1 Guided by principles of participatory research, these partnerships or coalitions seek to bridge the social divide between academic/ government researchers and communities by providing a forum for mutual learning and education.2 Coalitions and community partnerships create synergy through pooling expertise, resources, and perspectives of diverse stakeholders to positively affect community health.3 Frequently used in public health, CBPR is a participatory research approach characterized by three essential elements: Participation, education, and social action.
Process evaluation of the functioning of community-academic partnerships and their fidelity to the principles of participatory research is essential to understanding the relationship of these partnerships to achieving improved health outcomes.1,4 Comprehensive process evaluations need to examine factors related to the effectiveness of groups such as shared leadership, open communication, trust, and the ability to resolve conflicts,5-9 as well as adherence to CBPR principles. There is currently no consensus on evaluation approaches to partnership functioning.10 The literature to date has focused largely on case studies or lessons learned of individual coalitions.11 In addition to the use of qualitative methods, there is a need for valid and reliable measures of partnership functioning.
This article describes the mixed-methods evaluation of a community-academic partnership created to address hepatitis...