Wisconsin Injury Prevention Coalition project: Reducing injuries through community-academic partnerships

Background: The Wisconsin Injury Prevention Coalition project bridges geographic and institutional borders through community-academic partnerships. The project's aim is to reduce injuries by facilitating the translation of research into evidence-driven, community-based programs and policies.

Methods: The project conducted two assessments to identify opportunities for technical assistance and training, address early project barriers, and strengthen the overall partnership. At mid-point, academic partners administered a semi-structured interview to learn which program components were most and least valued and what changes could make the partnership work better. The other was a survey to assess the need for capacity building assistance in: problem identification; priority setting; program planning and implementation; and evaluation. Local health department staff assessed their knowledge and skills on a ten-point scale in each of these areas at mid-point and reflected back to their knowledge and skills at the beginning of the project.

Outcomes: Based on the semi-structured interviews, local health department staff perceived the most value from capacity development of skills essential in their positions, including finding and interpreting data, finding and understanding evidence-based research, developing a comprehensive program plan and designing and implementing relevant evaluation. A capacity assessment survey indicated that local health department staff had the greatest perceived change in their program planning and implementation skills, with an average increase of 3.37 (95% CI: 2.87 – 3.87) units.

Conclusion: Assessing opportunities for program improvement is beneficial to strengthening partnerships and determining need for technical assistance and training. Building on these opportunities can facilitate the translation of research into practice.