Validation of the Measurement Approaches to Partnership Success (MAPS) Questionnaire

Area of Science:

• Community-based participatory research (CBPR)
• Health equity research
• Partnership effectiveness measurement

Background:

• Assessing community-academic partnership success is vital for understanding their impact on community health.
• Existing measures often focus on new partnerships and lack validation.
• There is a need for reliable tools to evaluate established partnerships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a psychometric tool for measuring the success of long-standing community-academic partnerships.
• To provide a reliable instrument for evaluating partnership contributions to health equity.

Main Methods:

• The Measurement Approaches to Partnership Success (MAPS) study utilized a community-based participatory research approach.
• A questionnaire was developed, pilot tested, and nationally validated using confirmatory factor analysis and reliability testing.
• Data collected from 563 partners across 55 established community-based participatory research partnerships.

Main Results:

• The MAPS Questionnaire demonstrated strong psychometric properties, including validity and reliability.
• All dimensions of the MAPS Questionnaire showed agreement over time, indicating stability.
• The questionnaire is a scientifically rigorous tool for evaluating long-standing partnerships.

Conclusions:

• The MAPS Questionnaire, comprising seven dimensions and 81 items, is a validated instrument for assessing long-standing community-academic partnerships.
• This tool aids in evaluating partnership effectiveness and progress toward health equity.
• The MAPS Questionnaire supports evidence-based practice in community-academic collaborations.