241689 Creating and Supporting New Collaborative Partnerships for Public Health Research in Detroit: Examining the Role of a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Partnership - the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (URC)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011: 1:15 PM

Robert McGranaghan, MPH , School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Barbara A. Israel, DrPH , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Richard Lichtenstein, PhD , Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Ricardo Guzman, MSW, MPH , Community Health & Social Services Center, Inc, Detroit, MI
Zachary Rowe, BBA , Friends of Parkside, Detroit, MI
LaNeice Jones , Neighborhood Service Organization, Detroit, MI
Crystal White , Neighborhood Service Organization, Detroit, MI
Julia Weinert, MPH , School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Angela Reyes, MPH , Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Detroit, MI
William Ridella, MPH , Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion, Detroit, MI
Amy J. Schulz, PhD , School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Sharon Sand, MPP , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Gloria Palmisano, BS, MA , REACH-Detroit Partnership, Detroit, MI
Edith Kieffer, PhD , School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Toby Lewis, MD , Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Ashley O'Toole, MPH/MSW , University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Chris M. Coombe, PhD, MPH , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
     
There have been increasing calls for the development of collaborative academic-community partnerships to examine and address health disparities, and which actively involve community partners in all aspects of the research process. Community entities and academic institutions need enhanced capacity to conduct such research, and sustainable infrastructures are necessary to fundamentally transform collaboration between communities and academic institutions. The Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (URC), a CBPR partnership established in 1995, has successfully created an infrastructure that has fostered CBPR basic research, intervention and translation to policy change projects. Given the resources and health issues that exist in Detroit, there is need for expansion of such partnerships. The URC is expanding and reconfiguring its infrastructure to facilitate new, equitable community-academic partnerships and enhance their capacity to conduct health disparities research. We will describe and analyze the URC's approach to facilitate linkages between community and academic entities to increase the number of collaborative research partnerships in Detroit. Strategies include: creating a Steering Committee comprised of community and academic partners to guide the process; establishing a Community-Academic Research Network to foster linkages between academic researchers and communities; developing and maintaining an interactive communication system using social networking; hiring three community partners to facilitate communication and relationship building; implementing a planning grant program; and conducting capacity building efforts, e.g., community-academic mentoring, workshops, and research practicum. We will examine the role of community partners, and discuss challenges, facilitating factors, and lessons learned in creating and supporting community-academic partnerships to address community-based public health issues.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Advocacy for health and health education
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the approach taken by the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center to facilitate linkages between community and academic entities to increase the number of collaborative research partnerships in Detroit. Analyze the strategies used to provide resources and capacity building support to community and academic entities that enhance their abilities to engage in and conduct collaborative research partnerships focusing on community-based public health issues. Discuss the role of community partners in the process of expanding community-academic partnerships to address community-based public health issues. List the challenges and facilitating factors involved in creating and supporting community-academic partnerships to address community-based public health issues.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I am the Project Manager for the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center and I oversee the activities related to the project described in this abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: The importance of community involvement in research
See more of: Community-Based Public Health Caucus