Community-academic research partnerships have evolved as a multidisciplinary approach to involve those communities experiencing health disparities in the development, implementation, and evaluation of health interventions. Community-academic partnerships are intended to bring together academic researchers and communities to share power, establish trust, foster colearning, enhance strengths and resources, build community capacity, and address community-identified needs and health problems. The purpose of this chapter is to review the current state of community-academic research partnerships in the United States and Canada. We discuss contextual issues; present a review of the current literature; identify the major strengths, challenges, and lessons learned that have emerged during the course of these research collaborations; and explore implications for future research and policy.

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Using methods of community-based participatory research, a prospective randomized controlled trial of a violence prevention program based on Latino cultural values was implemented with elementary school children in a Mexican American community. Community members participated in intervention program selection, implementation, and data collection. High-risk students who participated in the program had greater nonviolent self-efficacy and demonstrated greater endorsement of program values than did high-risk students in the control group. This collaborative partnership was able to combine community-based participatory research with a rigorous study design and provide sustained benefit to community partners.