Participation of community residents in community partnerships concerned with health improvement is crucial to their success but often difficult to achieve. Special attention was paid to this objective via three observational techniques: (a)twice-a-year site visits; (b) yearly governance surveys; and, (c) key informant interviews of both intervention staff and community members, both affiliated and not affiliated with health parnerships. Resulting observations indicated high levels of satisfaction with the level of community participation. Several barriers, though, were evident in recruiting, retaining, and encouraging constructive participation by community members. Principal barriers included: (a) disinclination among community members to devote energy to pursuit of abstract objectives; (b) lack of clarity in distinctions between responsibilities of community members and partnership staff; and (c) suspicion among community members of sustainability and commitment of the partnership to their input. Lessons learned from observations in this areas include: (a) presenting community members with very clear and concrete concerns, and (b) ensuring that their participation in decision-making is clearly meaningful.
Learning Objectives: 1. To understand the barriers to resident participation in community health interventions 2. To be aware of steps available to promote resident participation
Keywords: Community Health, Partnerships
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