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. 2017 Feb;44(1):182-191.
doi: 10.1177/1090198116648291. Epub 2016 Jul 9.

Stakeholder Perspectives on Creating and Maintaining Trust in Community-Academic Research Partnerships

Leah Frerichs  1 , Mimi Kim  2 , Gaurav Dave  1 , Ann Cheney  3 , Kristen Hassmiller Lich  1 , Jennifer Jones  4 , Tiffany L Young  1 , Crystal W Cene  1 , Deepthi S Varma  5 , Jennifer Schaal  1 , Adina Black  1 , Catherine W Striley  5 , Stefanie Vassar  6 , Greer Sullivan  3 , Linda B Cottler  5 , Arleen Brown  6 , Jessica G Burke  4 , Giselle Corbie-Smith  1
Affiliations

Stakeholder Perspectives on Creating and Maintaining Trust in Community-Academic Research Partnerships

Leah Frerichs et al. Health Educ Behav. 2017 Feb.

Abstract

Community-academic research partnerships aim to build stakeholder trust in order to improve the reach and translation of health research, but there is limited empirical research regarding effective ways to build trust. This multisite study was launched to identify similarities and differences among stakeholders' perspectives of antecedents to trust in research partnerships. In 2013-2014, we conducted a mixed-methods concept mapping study with participants from three major stakeholder groups who identified and rated the importance of different antecedents of trust on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Study participants were community members ( n = 66), health care providers ( n = 38), and academic researchers ( n = 44). All stakeholder groups rated "authentic communication" and "reciprocal relationships" the highest in importance. Community members rated "communication/methodology to resolve problems" ( M = 4.23, SD = 0.58) significantly higher than academic researchers ( M = 3.87, SD = 0.67) and health care providers ( M = 3.89, SD = 0.62; p < .01) and had different perspectives regarding the importance of issues related to "sustainability." The importance of communication and relationships across stakeholders indicates the importance of colearning processes that involve the exchange of knowledge and skills. The differences uncovered suggest specific areas where attention and skill building may be needed to improve trust within partnerships. More research on how partnerships can improve communication specific to problem solving and sustainability is merited.

Keywords: collaboration; community-based participatory research; translational research; trust.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relative comparison of mean ratings of dimensions by importance for creating and maintaining trust across stakeholder groups. Note. The figure visualizes the relative importance ratings each stakeholder group placed on the five trust dimensions for creating and maintaining trust. Two dimensions, “mutually respectful and reciprocal relationships” and “authentic, effective, and transparent communication,” were rated highest across all groups. “Communication, credibility, and methodology to anticipate and resolve problems” was rated relatively higher by community members than health care providers and academic researchers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of statements within each dimension with different and similar importance ratings between stakeholder groups. Note. Concept mapping go-zone analyses were used to assess different and similar ratings of statements within each dimension between stakeholder groups. The darker portion of the bar graphs indicates the percentage of statements rated similarly, and the lighter portion reflects the percentage rated differently. Statements within the dimension of sustainability had the greatest proportion of dissimilar ratings, especially between community members and academic researchers. Authentic communication had the highest proportion of statements rated similarly.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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