Characteristics of successful partnerships to promote physical activity among youth

Background: Many community-based projects to promote physical activity in youth involve partnerships between public health organizations and local community stakeholders and the success of community-based projects often hinges upon the strength of the partnerships between these groups. However, little is known about the characteristics of successful partnerships in the context of physical activity promotion. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to identify characteristics of successful partnerships from the perspective of community partners involved in a mini-grant program to promote physical activity in youth.

Methods: Participants in this study were county-level coordinators (n=19) of the 20 North Carolina Eat Smart, Move More Community Grants projects selected for funding between 2010 and 2012. Twenty semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with the project coordinators from each of 20 counties. Emergent coding was first conducted, then overarching themes present in the coded data were identified and grouped with similar codes under thematic headings. Each of the 20 partnerships was then classified as either strong, moderate, or weak based on the project coordinators responses about the overall quality of their partnerships.

Results: Three overarching and five sub-themes emerged that characterize partnership relationships, including: continuity (history with partner, and willingness to engage in future partnership), connectedness, and capacity (interest, enthusiasm, and engagement and clarity of roles and responsibilities).

Conclusion: The insights of community partners working towards fostering community changes for improved physical activity are vital to identify promising characterizations of stronger vs. weaker partnerships that contribute to program success.