The relationship between local public health agency characteristics and performance of partnership-related essential public health services.

OBJECTIVE: The relationships between characteristics of local public health agencies and their self-reported scores on partnership-related indicators of the Ten Essential Public Health Services were examined. DESIGN: A retrospective cross-sectional study using secondary data from the National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP) and the 2005 Profile of Local Public Health Agencies from the National Association of City and County Health Organizations (NACCHO) was completed. Participants. Local public health systems that participated in both the NPHPSP and the NACCHO surveys. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Partnership-related elements from the NPHPSP data set were used as dependent variables, whereas combined focused elements from the NPHPSP and the NACCHO surveys served as independent variables. RESULTS: Local public health agencies' increase in partnerships over the preceding 3 years and involvement in a community health improvement process were significantly related to numerous partnership performance scores--more so than other agency characteristics. Involvement in the Mobilizing Action through Planning and Partnerships process was inversely related to some partnership performance scores. CONCLUSIONS: Future research must continue to identify and explore additional community- and agency-level predictors of partnership performance.

Perceptions of community-based participatory research in the Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative: an academic perspective.

Lower Mississippi Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative (Delta NIRI) is an academic-community partnership between seven academic institutions and three communities in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. A range of community-based participatory methods have been used to develop sustainable nutrition intervention strategies. Focus groups were conducted with 22 faculty and staff members from the academic partners on the project to document their perceptions of community-based participatory processes in a federally funded, multi-academic-community partnership spanning a decade. Focus groups were conducted to glean insights or lessons from the experiences of academic personnel. Focus groups were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Two researchers analyzed each transcript independently and reached consensus on the consistent themes. Participants candidly shared their experiences of working with community members to devise research plans, implement programs, and evaluate outcomes. The majority of faculty and staff members were attracted to this project by an excitement for conducting a more egalitarian and potentially more successful type of research. Yet each academic partner voiced that there was an underlying disconnect between community practices and research procedures during the project. Additional barriers to collaboration and action, located in communities and academic institutions, were described. Academic partners stressed the importance of open and ongoing communication, collective decision-making strategies, and techniques that support power sharing between all parties involved in the project. Findings from this research can inform academic-community partnerships and hopefully improve the community-based participatory research process implemented by academic institutions and communities.