Community-academic research partnerships with vulnerable populations

Community-academic research partnerships have evolved as a multidisciplinary approach to involve those communities experiencing health disparities in the development, implementation, and evaluation of health interventions. Community-academic partnerships are intended to bring together academic researchers and communities to share power, establish trust, foster colearning, enhance strengths and resources, build community capacity, and address community-identified needs and health problems. The purpose of this chapter is to review the current state of community-academic research partnerships in the United States and Canada. We discuss contextual issues; present a review of the current literature; identify the major strengths, challenges, and lessons learned that have emerged during the course of these research collaborations; and explore implications for future research and policy.