Building Collaborative Partnerships to Improve Community-Based HIV Prevention Research

The concept of developing collaborative partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs) is based on the community psychology perspective of forming reciprocal, nonexploitative partnerships with community members. This perspective has evolved from the empowerment literature which views the community psychologist as a collaborator with community members who participate in all aspects of an intervention and evaluation. This article presents a conceptual model of effective university-CBO partnerships, with emphasis on HIV prevention research. A six stage model is presented, with emphasis on the beginning stages of developing collaborations with AIDS related CBOs. These stages are: 1. Selecting a potential CBO partner; 2. Developing a reciprocal relationship; 3. Deciding on a research question; 4. Conducting the research/evaluation; 5. Analyzing and interpreting the data; and 6. Dissemination. Barriers to effective collaboration are discussed. These barriers include having different goals, relationships that are not perceived as mutually beneficial, unfamiliarity with cultural norms, and power differentials between university based researchers and CBO staff and community members. Strategies to avoid these potential problems are presented.