title: Successful strategies to engage research partners for translating evidence into action in community health: a critical review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To undertake a critical review describing key strategies supporting development of participatory research (PR) teams to engage partners for creation and translation of action-oriented knowledge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sources are four leading PR practitioners identified via bibliometric analysis. Authors' publications were identified in January 1995-October 2009 in PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science and CAB databases, and books. Works were limited to those with a process description describing a research project and practitioners were first, second, third, or last author.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adapting and applying the "Reliability Tested Guidelines for Assessing Participatory Research Projects" to retained records identified five key strategies: developing advisory committees of researchers and intended research users; developing research agreements; using formal and informal group facilitation techniques; hiring co-researchers/partners from community; and ensuring frequent communication. Other less frequently mentioned strategies were also identified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review is the first time these guidelines were used to identify key strategies supporting PR projects. They proved effective at identifying and evaluating engagement strategies as reported by completed research projects. Adapting these guidelines identified gaps where the tool was unable to assess fundamental PR elements of power dynamics, equity of resources, and member turnover. Our resulting template serves as a new tool to measure partnerships.
authors: Participatory Research at McGill, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, 5858 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Suite 300, Montreal, QC, Canada H3S 1Z1.
authors: Jon
authors: J
authors: Salsberg
authors: Participatory Research at McGill, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, 5858 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Suite 300, Montreal, QC, Canada H3S 1Z1.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Parry
authors: Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, 5858 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Suite 300, Montreal, QC, Canada H3S 1Z1.
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Pluye
authors: Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education, McGill University, 475 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, QC, Canada H2W 1S4.
authors: Soultana
authors: S
authors: Macridis
authors: Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, Canada N6A 3K6.
authors: Carol P
authors: CP
authors: Herbert
authors: Participatory Research at McGill, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, 5858 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Suite 300, Montreal, QC, Canada H3S 1Z1.
authors: Ann C
authors: AC
authors: Macaulay
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000639:trends; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000639:trends; D011634:Public Health / Q000639:trends