Building strengths through practice-research-policy collaborations

Solving long-standing, sensitive social problems through community-based, collaborative partnerships requires more than rushed policies and program efforts that react to sudden crises. Efforts to support resilient trajectories in children dealing with adversities like peer victimization or adolescents' searching for engagements and identities in communities struggling with a dramatic change in its economic base requires a sustained and coordinated effort based on the best knowledge that we have. But action must not only be knowledge based, it must also be relevant, and the "buy-in" of or "pull from" those who are affected by the action as recipients or as implementers needs to be secured. Collaboration of policy makers, practitioners, and researchers can advance this agenda. Involving decision-makers and knowledge users in the formulation of knowledge has been highlighted as the best predictor for the application of research knowledge. Community-based research can ensure that research results are relevant to a wider audience and thus hasten adoption beyond the immediate communities.