Title : Perceptions and determinants of partnership trust among hispanic participants in a culturally relevant health promotion organization (PASOs) in South Carolina
Abstract:
Trust is difficult to conceptualize and define because of its diverse applications in different disciplines. The development of relationships based on trust is a central principle in academic/practice community partnerships. Though the measure of public trust in health care organizations has been studied, the conceptualization and evaluation of public trust in Community Based-Participatory Research (CBPR) partnerships is under-investigated. CBPR is a collaborative approach to research that can reduce historic mistrust and health disparities among minority populations. For this qualitative study, we modified Dietz and Den Hartog’s (2006) Multi-dimensional Measure of Trust Model to investigate contextual factors that influence perceptions and development of partnership trust in collaborative partnerships pursuing reducing health disparities in U.S. Latino communities. We conducted focus groups and qualitative key informant interviews with stakeholders of a Latino health promotion organization. This qualitative study incorporated some CBPR principles in its design. It builds on an existing academic-community partnership between a university and a community-based organization (CBO) that provides support services and promotes healthy lifestyles among Hispanic families and communities in South Carolina. Data gathered was used to identify types of trust based on a selected typology (Lucero, 2013), used in the context of CBPR partnerships. Stakeholders reported different types of trust depending on their role, and length of time of organizational involvement. We identified determinants of partnership trust among stakeholders, including organizational, socio-economic, and cultural determinants. Partnership trust differed from less strong types of trust (i.e., neutral, and functional trust in a county where the organizational programming only has about 1 year of development), to stronger types of trust (i.e., critical reflective trust in a county where the organizational programming has 10 years of development). Trust in CBPR partnerships does not always begins as a deficit, and a partnership can begin at any type of trust. Thus, reflecting why in our study sample, regardless of the county (length of organizational programming development), participants did not report “unearned” trust. This study also offered the participant community-based organization’s leadership valuable information to understand interaction dynamics among their stakeholders with the purpose of increasing effectiveness in their efforts to provide collaborative and culturally appropriate health promotion services to Hispanic communities. We are using study findings for developing a culturally and linguistically relevant quantitative instrument to measure partnership trust as an outcome of CBPR in minority communities.
Audience Take Away:
• The use of community-based participatory research approaches to explore outcomes of health promotion and disease prevention initiatives targeting Hispanic minority communities in the U.S.
• The conceptualization of partnership trust as an outcome of community-engaged health research and interventions targeting Hispanic communities.
• The role of culture as a determinant of trust in partnerships, in addition to organizational and socio-economic determinants.
• Learning from an example on how a community-academic partnership could be used to enable communities and academic institutions to engage each other in partnerships that balance power, share resources, and work towards systems change. Participants could use what they learn from this case-example in either reviewing existing partnerships they are involved in, or developing new partnerships to increase their effectiveness in assisting minorities in improving their health and well-being.
• How to use a qualitative approach to initiate development of a quantitative instrument to access outcomes of community-engaged research and interventions for disease prevention and health promotion.
• How to incorporate community-engaged practices into their health care delivery and promotion efforts targeting minority populations, and in particular Hispanics
