Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109937

Nicola Dawkins, PhD¹, Sharrice White, MPH², Lynda A. Anderson, PhD³, Emily Stewart, MPH¹, Stephanie Kamin, MPH¹, and Doryn Chervin, PhD¹. (1) ORC MACRO, 3 Corporate Square, Suite 370, Atlanta, GA 30329, 404-321-3211, Nicola.u.dawkins@orcmacro.com, (2) Prevention Research Centers, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy, NE, Mailstop K-45, Atlanta, GA 30341, (3) Prevention Research Centers (MS K-45), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724

Divergent priorities and agendas among partners pose challenges to developing and maintaining trust. This project is designed to explore partners' experiences with and opinions about trust in community, state, and academic partnerships, develop a tool to enhance trust among such groups, and determine the feasibility of developing a quantitative measure of trust. We draw upon the partnerships of the Prevention Research Centers (PRC) to examine these issues. The PRC program is funded by CDC to promote community-based participatory prevention research to put science into practice and enhance capacity of communities and the workforce. Six focus groups were conducted—two each with community, state, and academic partner representatives. In each group, participants were asked to identify characteristics of their PRC partners' that encouraged or discouraged trust, and discuss whether trust is developed at the interpersonal or organizational level. Focus group participants from academic and state settings described functional and organizational issues affecting trust whereas community members described more interpersonal aspects. Across groups, participants concluded that building and maintaining trust primarily depends on individuals, but organizational barriers can result from distrusting environments. From these findings, we developed a tool to assist with enhancing trust among partners. The tool includes an individual, reflective portion and a facilitated group discussion concerning expectations associated with trust. The tool was subsequently assessed in a series of confirmatory focus groups. The trust tool will be refined through pilot testing in four PRCs and data will be used to develop a valid measure of trust in partnerships.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

• Identify concepts used by community, academic, and state partners to characterize trust;
• Describe how trust may be built and maintained within community, academic and state partnerships.
• Explain the method and initial effectiveness of an original tool developed to enhance trust among partners.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF Contract with CDC.