Broad and ongoing participation in basic public health activities offers compelling opportunities for both public health professionals and community residents and organizations to improve community well-being. But moving from commitment to practice presents challenges and dangers on each side. The implications of making this type of collaborative practice "business as usual" are not necessarily self-evident, and are different for public health professionals and community residents and organizations. Involvement of a wide range of people and organizations is more likely to succeed if both sides enter a partnership with a clear understanding of the difficulties and potential pitfalls ahead, including significant changes in thinking, language, practice, and organizational structures and operations; mismatches in motives and expectations; tendencies toward tokenization and false consensus; and a dearth of financial and other resources. In this workshop, faculty with many years of direct experience in this type of collaboration will discuss what they have learned about the differing opportunities, challenges, and dangers, moving beyond rhetoric to offer participants a realistic assessment of what sustained, broad-based collaboration really means for both public health professionals and community residents and organizations. See www.cacsh.org/
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: - identify potential opportunities, challenges, and dangers, for both public health professionals and community residents and organizations, in putting sustained, broad-based public health collaboration into practice
Keywords: Public Health Infrastructure, Community Collaboration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.