Investigators:

1
Healthy Youth in a Healthy Society A Community
Alliance for Reducing Risks for Injury in
Children and Adolescents

• Investigators
• Bonnie Leadbeater
• Elizabeth Banister
• Gordon Barnes
• Cecilia Benoit
• Mikael Jansson
• Anne Marshall
• Ted Riecken
• Project Coordinator
• Shelley Booth
• Presented by RAs
• Philip Clement
• Sandy Wiens

2
Context

• A Community Alliance for Reducing Risks for
  Injury in Children and Adolescents
• CIHR funded interdisciplinary research project
• Centre for Youth Society, University of
  Victoria (5 year Project) beginning in 2001

3
Context cont

• CAHR Subprojects
• W.I.T.S. Rock Solid Primary Program for the
  Prevention of Peer Violence
• Adolescent Girls' Mentorship Study
• Risky Business? Experiences of Children and Youth
  in the Sex Trade
• Traditional Pathways to Health
• Health Risk Behaviours in Youth from Biological
  and Adoptive Families
• Youth Coping with Social and Economic
  Restructuring

4
Community Partners

• Rock Solid Foundation
• Prostitutes Empowerment Education and Resource
  Society
• Greater Victoria School District 61
• Adoptive Families Association of BC
• Child and Family Counselling Association
• Victoria Native Friendship Centre
• Healthy Schools Project SJ Willis School
• Womens Sexual Assault Centre Project Respect
• The Career Shop
• YMCA
• Vancouver Island Health Authority
• Youth Empowerment Society
• BC Office for Children and Youth
• Victoria Youth Clinic
• Stuate Lelum Secondary School
• Problem Gambling Victoria

5
Preliminary Evaluation of CAHR Partnership Success

• 2003 Interviews with 7 CAHR investigators and 4
  community partners
• Interview Questions
• How do you define success in terms of the
  community-university partnership?
• What creative ways have been used to strengthen
  the community/university partnership?

6
Preliminary Evaluation of CAHR Partnership Success

• Three major themes identified
• 1) Were all in circle together Building
  relationships
• 2) Supporting the process Availability of
  resources
• 3) Making a difference Achieving results

7
1) Were All in Circle Together Building
Relationships

• Elements for strengthening relationships
• Listening to and learning from each other
• Mutual respect and trust
• Shared goals and values
• Spending time together
• Building meaningful relationships can be the most
  daunting and time consuming challenge
  partnerships face (Lasker et al., 2001).

8
Were All in Circle Together Building
Relationships
9
2) Supporting the Process Availability of
Resources

• Unless you have the time or money so that a
  community partner can become equally
  involvedthen theres no way to have the link
  established
• Resources that contributed to effective
  partnerships
• Research funding
• Time and effort
• Skills and expertise
• Space and equipment

10
Supporting the Process Availability of Resources
11
3) Making a Difference Achieving Results

• Participants expected that their partnership
  would lead to improved health outcomes for youth,
  their families, communities, and/or society at
  large by,
• Developing new perspectives about youth
• Changing youth behaviour
• Changing practice/influencing policy
• Informing local/global communities

12
Making a Difference Achieving Results
13
Metaphor of Bridge Building

• Building bridges between universities and
  communities (Suarez-Balcazar, Davis, Ferrari et
  al, 2004)
• Theory-practice gap can be a great divide or
  chasm between two communities (Golden-Biddle,
  Estabrooks, and Germ Ann, 2003)
• Reframed as an opening or pass that connects
  can offer a novel vantage point

14
Listening and Learning
Trust and Mutual Respect
Shared Values and Goals
15
Making a Difference Achieving Results
Supporting the Process Availability of Resources



Were All in Circle Together Building
Relationships
16
Constraints
17
Thanks to

• Community Partners
• Principal Investigators
• Janet Riecken, research assistant video taping
  and editing
• Traditional Pathways to Health Project team
  video taping and data collection