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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Joshua Yang, PhD, MPH¹, Steven Wallace, PhD¹, Astrid Hendricks-Smith², and Bonnie Midura². (1) UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, 10911 Weyburn Avenue, Suite 300, Los Angeles, CA 90024, (310) 794-0544, j.yang@ucla.edu, (2) The California Endowment, 1000 N. Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Of the many considerations given to forming collaborative partnerships in community health planning, power differentials among collaborating organizations is rarely discussed. Stakeholders are assumed to set aside organizational self interest and preexisting differences in power for the sake of the coalition goals. This assumption, however, does not reflect the challenges of bringing diverse stakeholders together for community health planning. Community organizers recognize the role that power plays in health planning and policy processes. Yet, it is unclear how power differentials are to be managed when collaboration holds more promise then confrontation. We use the experiences of a collaborative effort in Los Angeles County to identify the challenges that power differentials among collaborative partners present in effective community health planning. Three areas of collaborative development that will be addressed are: organizational self interest, power, and consensus building; power and group action; and positioning collaboratives for maximum influence. Strategies for engaging diverse stakeholders, power rebalancing in collaborative partnerships, and exporting collaborative relationships to the broader health planning environment will be proposed.

Learning Objectives: