The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #58971

Karen E. Lasser, MD MPH¹, Virginia R Chomitz, PhD², Juhee Kim, MS², Carol VanDeusen Lukas, EdD³, and Karen Ann Hacker, MD, MPH². (1) The Cambridge Hospital, 1493 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, (2) Institute for Community Health, 119 Windsor St., Ground Level, Cambridge, MA 02139, (3) Health Services Department, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St., Boston, MA 02118

Historically, some relationships between researchers and communities have been strained by trust violations. To foster improved community-academic partnership, The Institute for Community Health (ICH) was created as a collaboration between 3 Harvard teaching hospitals and the communities they serve, Cambridge and Somerville, MA. Key to the Institute’s mission is engagement in community-based participatory research. Before embarking on specific projects, ICH developed formal policies to guide its research with community partners. We began by reviewing existing policies in established community-academic partnerships nationwide. We identified the following areas in which policy was needed: ownership and access to data, authorship, conflict of interest, data confidentiality/IRB policy (including guidelines for data suppression), memorandums of agreement (MOA) for collaborators, and dissemination of findings. The policies emphasize the need for an explicit MOA and working group (including community stakeholders) for each project, early in the process, with recognition that community needs may differ (i.e. a school, department of health, and coalition may require different agreements). Publication is viewed as an important by-product of the work, and not necessarily the primary goal. Our next step is to share these policies with community members for review. For those interested in community-based research, policy development with community input is a key step.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participants will be able to
• Understand the importance of developing explicit policies in community-academic partnerships
• Identify key elements contained in such policies and
• Understand the process by which such policies can be created and implemented.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.