What should community organisations consider when deciding to partner with researchers? A critical reflection on the Zil
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(2020) 18:101
RESEARCH
Open Access
What should community organisations consider when deciding to partner with researchers? A critical reflection on the Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abhivrudhhi Sangha experience in Karnataka, India Bridget Pratt1*, Tanya Seshadri2,3 and Prashanth N. Srinivas2
Abstract Background: Community organisations and community members are increasingly being involved in health research projects worldwide as part of the engagement movement. Achieving deeper forms of community engagement like partnership demands that decision-making power be shared with community partners. However, how can community partners assess if meaningful engagement and shared decision-making will be possible when approached by prospective research partners? In this paper, we explore how community organisations decide to join health research projects when approached by health researchers. Methods: Case study research was undertaken on a health systems research project in Karnataka, India called Participation for Local Action, which was carried out by local researchers in partnership with the Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abhivrudhhi Sangha, a community development organisation. In-depth interviews were conducted with the researchers, Sangha leaders and field investigators from their community. Results: Thematic analysis identified two main themes – ‘context’ and ‘deciding to engage’. The Sangha’s experience offers lessons to other community organisations that can help them when deciding to engage with researchers in terms of what features to look for in research partners and in proposed research projects, what requests to make of prospective research partners, and what sorts of outcomes or partnership agreements to accept. These lessons may be especially applicable in contexts where relationships of trust already exist between partners and where they have the skills to lead data collection and analysis. Conclusions: We hope that this guidance will help empower community organisations to select good research partners and promote more equitable partnerships between community partners and academic researchers. Keywords: community organisation, ethics, power, engagement, partnership, collaboration, health research, health systems research
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Centre for Health Equity, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie St., Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to t
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