Literature Review on Relationship Building for Community-academic Collaboration in Health Research and Innovation

Choiwai Maggie Chak,T Baaken,Zaidir Zaidir,G Maas,M Yahya,P Van Der Sijde

doi:10.1051/matecconf/201821502002

Choiwai Maggie Chak, T Baaken + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201821502002

Copy DOI

Abstract

In response to European Commission Horizon 2020’s call for ‘science-for-and-with-community’, scholars have recognized the need to conduct ‘responsible research and innovation’ and engage more with communities to combat today’s complex health challenges. Hence, higher priority has been placed to cooperate with communities in health research and innovation development to better match societal values, needs and expectations. Accordingly, the approach of community-based participatory research (CBPR), the ‘gold standard’ within the community-engaged research spectrum, is the most widely discussed. However, it is seldom achieved in reality, as it requires establishment and maintenance of open, transparent, trustful and ongoing relationships between community partners and academia to succeed. Paradoxically, despite of the significance of quality collaborative relationship to the quality and success of community-academic collaboration, the key elements to achieve it were seldom discussed.Herein, the literature review aimed to (1) discuss the previous experiences and challenges in building and sustaining community-academic collaborative relationships; (2) examine the relationship building strategies for quality collaborative relationships; and (3) identify the potential research gaps for future research.Focusing on the area of health research and innovation, peer-reviewed articles, books and grey literature related to building and sustaining relationships in community-academic collaboration published between 1998 and 2018 were identified using the Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar bibliographic databases and Google search engine. Literature available in full-texts and English language with a focus on relationship aspects of community-academic collaboration were examined. Previous literature suggested thatacademics and community members encountered common challenges in experiencing inequitable relationships, distrust, divide between academia and community, uncommon norms of power sharing, dissemination of results and lack of resources for maintaining long-term relationships. Two approaches of relationship building: (1) personal qualities and competence, and (2) actions for relationship building from the beginning to the end stages of collaborative relationship were discussed. Literature revealed that the ways that academics approach, collaborate, communicate with and maintain in the community had significant impact on both current and future collaborative relationships. In addition, academics differed in acceptance and readiness towards community engagement, which could be attributed to the differences in personal qualities and competence. Future research should target on identifying the factors contributing to such individual differences and compare its impact on the quality of relationship with community, so as to better cultivate individuals’ readiness and capacity towards community engagement and effective relationship building with community.

Highlights

1.1 Research BackgroundIn response to European Commission Horizon 2020’s call for ‘science-for-and-with-community’, academia have recognized the need to conduct ‘responsible research and innovation’ via engaging with communities to combat today’s complex health challenges(Jacob, 2013)
1.1 Knowledge gap Despite the emerging discussions on its importance and availability of case studies, an immaculate community-based participatory research (CBPR) is seldom achieved in reality (Blumenthal 2011), as it demands (1) mutual understanding and respectful trust between community partners and academia; (2) commitment to partnership development and sustainability; (3) acknowledgement and reduction of power imbalances and tension in relationships and (4) operationalization of equity among partners(Winterbauer and Myers, 2013), all of which must be built upon quality, cooperative and sustainable relationships between community partners and academics (Mayan and Daum, 2016; Wang et al, 2017)
Despite the goodwill of engaging the community in research and innovation development, a number of literature suggested that establishing and sustaining quality collaborative relationships between academia and community depicted by CBPR could be easier said than done (Blumenthal, 2011; Council of Higher Education, 2004; Eden, Jirotka and Stahl, 2013)

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Research BackgroundIn response to European Commission Horizon 2020’s call for ‘science-for-and-with-community’, academia have recognized the need to conduct ‘responsible research and innovation’ via engaging with communities to combat today’s complex health challenges(Jacob, 2013). Community-based participatory research (CBPR), which is the ‘gold standard’ among the whole community-engaged research spectrum, is the most widely discussed approach over the last two decades (LaVeaux and Christopher, 2009; Winterbauer et al, 2016). It emphasises equal partnerships with equitable involvement, equal authority and responsibility between academia and community partners at all stages of research process (Israel et al, 1998; Israel, 2005; Katz, 2003; Minkler, 2005; Ross et al, 2010), which addresses power imbalances across the whole spectrum of community engagement (Wallerstein et al, 2005). It is a key driver to university-community collaboration quality and success (Ahmed et al, 2016; Bahraminejad et al, 2015; Christopher et al, 2008; Serrell et al, 2009)

Methods

Results

Conclusion