Successful Strategies to Engage Research Partners for Translating Evidence into Action in Community Health: A Critical Review

Abstract

Objectives. To undertake a critical review describing key strategies supporting development of participatory research (PR) teams to engage partners for creation and translation of action-oriented knowledge. Methods. Sources are four leading PR practitioners identified via bibliometric analysis. Authors' publications were identified in January 1995–October 2009 in PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science and CAB databases, and books. Works were limited to those with a process description describing a research project and practitioners were first, second, third, or last author. Results. Adapting and applying the “Reliability Tested Guidelines for Assessing Participatory Research Projects” to retained records identified five key strategies: developing advisory committees of researchers and intended research users; developing research agreements; using formal and informal group facilitation techniques; hiring co-researchers/partners from community; and ensuring frequent communication. Other less frequently mentioned strategies were also identified. Conclusion. This review is the first time these guidelines were used to identify key strategies supporting PR projects. They proved effective at identifying and evaluating engagement strategies as reported by completed research projects. Adapting these guidelines identified gaps where the tool was unable to assess fundamental PR elements of power dynamics, equity of resources, and member turnover. Our resulting template serves as a new tool to measure partnerships.

Research co-design in health: a rapid overview of reviews

“…interviews, participation in advisory councils) and researcher and co-design participant communication and relationships have also been recommended (e.g. [5,14,15]). However, the current literature is complex, contradictory and poorly synthesised as it has been examined from several different research perspectives in studies focused on maximising rigor and completeness for academic understanding rather than on providing practitioners with a short, parsimonious and accessible synthesis of the most significant characteristics of the literature.…”

Beyond "Two Cultures": Guidance for Establishing Effective Researcher/Health System Partnerships

“…26 Salsberg et al identified the most commonly referenced strategies for effective partnerships as: ( a ) development of an advisory structure; ( b ) development of research agreements, ( c ) use of group facilitation techniques, ( d ) hiring staff from the community of study; and ( e ) frequent communication. 27 Many authors identify trust and respect, along with opportunities for face-to-face interaction and clear roles and expectations as essential. 9,31-35 Others stress the need for brokering, boundary-spanning or coordinating roles, as well as skills in change management.…”

Passive leg raise testing effectively reduces fluid administration in septic shock after correction of non-compliance to test results

“…Reasons for unsuccessful or non-implementation of guidelines in clinical practice are now being recognized beyond the lack of knowledge, including (lack of) comprehensiveness, relevance, simplicity, applicability and presence of (negative) role models [14]. Our strategy of self-assessment of the ICU team after the failed attempt to implement PLR testing (period 2) may be referred as a form of ‘participatory action research,’ initially implemented in community health medicine [17]. Such form of participation may also be transformed to involvement of ICU personnel in the analysis of reasons for ‘knowledge-to-care gaps’ and potential solutions [18].…”