Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #170107
Title: EXPANDING AND ENHANCING PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN RESEARCH AND SERVICE

Author
item McCabe Sellers, Beverly
item Bogle, Margaret
item RUSSELL, L - UNIV AR COOPERATIVE EXT
item MURPHY, E - LSU COOPERATIVE EXT
item HOWELL, B - MSU COOPERATIVE EXT
item PREWITT, T - UAMS, COL OF PUBLIC HEALT

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/2004
Publication Date: 10/6/2004
Citation: McCabe Sellers, B.J., Bogle, M.L., Russell, L., Murphy, E., Howell, B., Prewitt, T. 2004. Expanding and enhancing partnerships between research and service. Proceedings of Overcoming Health Disparities: Global Experiences from Partnerships between Health Services and Health Professional Schools. 165.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A major challenge in community-based participatory research is the goal of sustainable interventions in rural communities once a short-term funded research project is completed. Equally, the challenge for many service providers is the lack of adequate and longitudinal funding for outcome evaluation. Objectives: To describe a model for the addition of new service and academic partners to an existing campus-community partnership to address intervention sustainability and longitudinal research evaluation. Methods: USDA, ARS cooperative agreements with Extension Service in three states and with a new College of Public Health allowed new partners to be added to the original six. Main Outcomes: Rural populations with limited resources face serious health disparities. Service providers lack longitudinal funding for outcome evaluation of the impact of their services and focus instead on simple counting of client events. The Lower Mississippi Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative (Delta NIRI), United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service with longitudinal research funding established an initial partnership with six Universities (in three states) with limited experience in community research. The USDA Cooperative Extension Service in these states have developed networks and familiarity with rural customs and culture but limited funding for long-term research activities. An expanded partnership with Cooperative Extension and with a newly founded College of Public Health brought more resources and diverse expertise to the three research community worksites founded in 2002. A new type of professional position, Community Coordinator, was created through Extension and charged with daily supervising of intervention research, worksite office coordination, and participant recruitment. The blending of service resources and expertise into the research mission has doubled community resident participation, increased enthusiasm for research interventions and holds promise of sustainability. Conclusions: This blending of service and research resources has led to an expansion of the partnerships to bring greater diversity of resources and expertise to community based participatory research and its promises of sustainability.