Unpacking University–Community Partnerships to Advance Scholarship of Practice

Abstract

Today, more than ever, occupational therapists are engaged in close partnerships with community organizations and community settings such as service agencies, refugee and immigrant enclaves, and faith-based organizations, to name a few, for the purpose of engaging in scholarship of practice. However, we know little about the views of community partners regarding the development and sustainability of university-community partnerships. The purpose of this article is twofold: First, we will describe a pilot study in which we gathered qualitative data from community partners engaged in scholarship of practice with faculty and students, regarding their views about benefits of partnerships, challenges, and characteristics of sustainable partnerships. Second, based on this pilot study and extensive experience of the authors, we propose a revised version of a partnerships model available in the literature. We illustrate the model through examples of the authors' collective experiences developing and sustaining successful university-community partnerships.

Reach out and touch: student training community projects for sustainability - a case study

“…Lastly, community members can see students, more easily than staff members, as people who need to and who are willing to learn (Sandy and Holland, 2006). This could reduce potential (perceived) power distances and increase enjoyment of the universitycommunity partnership (Suarez-Balcazar et al, 2015;Thompson and Hood, 2016).…”

Feasibility of a Brief Problem-Solving Training for 4-H Center Summer Staff: Linking Needs to Implementation

“…In addition to implementing treatments in real-world settings, there has also been an emphasis in exploring partnerships between universities and community organizations in applying research (Buys & Bursnall, 2007). Maintaining these partnerships is complex and can involve time and effort to coordinate these collaborations and the notion that the work benefits both agencies involved is also paramount to success (Suarez-Balcazar, Mirza, & Hansen, 2015). A multi-stage process that involves talking to stakeholders, data collection, and dissemination has been outlined and supported in working with children (Harper et al 2002).…”

Participatory research: A promising approach to promote meaningful engagement

“…The last 20 years in occupational therapy and occupational science have been marked by pursuing new ways for universities and communities to work together to address pressing health and social issues impacting occupational engagement. From the early work of Townsend and Wilcock on occupational justice [13], to the introduction of the Scholarship of Practice (SOP) model [14], to multidisciplinary community partnering [15], and the revised model of SOP [16] to name some, scholars have proposed non-traditional strategies of collaborating with communities [17]. Consistent with a participatory approach to research, SOP emphasizes occupational therapy scholars, practitioners, and community members collaborating to co-create knowledge and develop relevant solutions to participation and health challenges within communities.…”

“…Such meaningful collaborations imply attending to issues of power and cultural differences, valuing the knowledge coming from participants and caregivers, and forming mutually respectful collaborations [18]. Importantly, participatory approaches are grounded in principles of social justice [31], Scholarship of Practice [17], emancipatory and collaborative research relationships [18].…”