Assessing partnerships within CBPR: Influence on intervention development and delivery

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) involves people of diverse backgrounds and skill levels to address common areas of concern. Partnership is the cornerstone of CBPR initiatives; hence partnership evaluation is an important method for reflection and improvement. The Family-Nurse Care Coordination Partnership convened researchers, parents of children with special health care needs (CSHCN), and nurse care coordinators to develop and implement a family-centered intervention to navigate systems of care. The purpose of the partnership evaluation was to assess perceptions of process and outcomes of the study, beginning with the development phase and continuing through completion of the intervention. The CCPH Principles of Good Community-Campus Partnerships combined with a conceptual model developed by Israel and colleagues framed the evaluation design. Study staff conducted interviews and focus groups with the researchers, parents, and nurses. Discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed, verified, and analyzed using Atlas Ti (qualitative data analysis software). Analyses revealed that convergence around an important issue to parents and nurses was achieved. Partners perceived other team members as being trustworthy, hence contributing to the success of the group. Nurses were more likely than parents to express their uncertainty the intervention was practical and parents were concerned about families not sampled to receive the intervention. Parents felt they contributed to the process through sharing their personal stories, while nurses reported contributing through sharing of clinical expertise and everyone's contributions were reflected in the products developed. Furthermore, both parents and nurses articulated how they gained valuable insight to how parents and nurses work with CSHCN.