Successful Strategies to Engage Research Partners for Translating Evidence into Action in Community Health: A Critical Review

Table 3

Summary and description of the most frequently mentioned strategies for developing a research-community partnership.

Strategy	Description
() Development of an advisory committee	(i) Acomposition of researchers, the intended users of the research, and/or representatives of community organizations; (ii) Advisory committees allow for inclusion of all viewpoints throughout the research process and joint development of dissemination strategies and action plans; (iii) Subcommittees are often used to divide up tasks (e.g., reviewing new proposed research topics, articles for publication, partnership evaluation)
() Development of research agreements	(i) Before the research begins, clearly spell out researchers and partner roles and responsibilities, outline how decisions will be made (e.g., by consensus or by voting), and set out what to do if conflict arises; (ii) Research agreements may also include plans for data ownership and control, interpretation of data, and procedures for resolving disagreement over research results; (iii) Developing agreements is seen as a trust-building exercise
() Use of group facilitation techniques	(i) Can be both a formal and an informal process to ensure meaningful involvement and participation of partners; (ii) Formal facilitation includes focus groups, workshops, and nominal group techniques; (iii) Informal techniques include circulating agendas ahead of time, small group work, and one-on-one informal discussions
() Hiring staff from the community of study	(i) Hiring local persons as project staff recognizes community members’ abilities to establish good relationships with individual participants for recruitment and ongoing data collection; (ii) Projects hire well-respected community members as a “community champions,” field coordinators, intervention staff, interviewers, and group cofacilitators, for data collection and analysis.
() Frequent communication	(i) Communication between partners through regular group meetings to keep all partners updated on progress and changes in procedures and as a way of discussing concerns and challenges; (ii) Other methods include telephone calls to partners who missed meetings to bring them up-to-date and prompt circulation of meeting minutes and newsletters