Community–University Collaboration to Examine and Disseminate Local Research on Underage Drinking

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the university and community collaboration efforts to collect new data on community alcohol norms. This chapter describes the challenges that exist for university collaborations in low income and ethnic minority communities. This chapter describes the use of participatory dialogue to build relationships and trust between university researchers and community members. The critical discussion about the flaws of regional, state and national data was an important process that raised awareness of community members about the need for local data collection. This process led to the community-led and community-created surveys. Participatory dialogue was utilized again to collaboratively analyze and interpret local survey findings for community alcohol norms and perception of alcohol accessibility for adolescents.