Table 3. Illustrative quotes supporting each major theme.
| Major Themes | Illustrative Quotes1 |
|---|---|
| Personal and interpersonal motivators” contributed to partnership development and resiliency | “She said HIV is her mission and I knew we'd hit it off.” (Community 3) “I was looking for a new project that sparked me and this came along, and this just seemed like a really important area. I got really excited …” (Faculty 1) “The community leaders and members think the research topic is relevant and worth discovering. With both researchers and community leaders and members coming together to do the research, the hope is to create services that will benefit the community someday down the road.” (Community 3) “We both sort of had a passion for this topic, so it was something that we could really both commit to fully… And it's an area that fits with my research area.” (Faculty 4) |
| Partners took on responsibilities that utilized their strengths | “We all value our expertise, the researcher's experience in research and our expertise in our own community…. I trust her experience and I like her willingness to work with us, who have little research experience. Our research partner recognizes the importance of our community expertise and involvement.” (Community 8) “It was pretty clear early on that he [my community partner] would be in charge of bringing together the community side of it…. [T]hose roles were clear from the beginning, and that he was going to be able to take care of creating any connections we needed.” (Faculty 4) “In writing the proposal, [faculty partner] did most of the work. I would like to gain experience in writing research proposals, but there was miscommunication about our role in terms of writing the proposal. I hope next time we will share the responsibility.” (Community 1) “What is the best way to do that? That deferring is a natural part of a project when we have distinct areas of expertise. So I just worried that I was being domineering before, but she now feels comfortable saying what she thinks will work.” (Faculty 6) |
| Partners grappled with communication, decision-making, and power dynamics | “I felt comfortable with them in making decisions. At first, we spent time getting to know each other and our styles, but it progressed quickly into a good partnership. I did not have to compromise my values. I don't think they did either.” (Faculty 5) “Amongst the three of us, we talked about our roles, labeled our roles, and wrote how we envisioned this project…We agreed that we could change roles and also facilitate.” (Community 3) “(Decision making) was a challenge I faced. I was the referee [because] my partners had two mind frames… So I was dealing with Discovery Channel [academic partner] and Soap Opera [agency partner]. [But] the communication gap slowly came together.” (Community 2) “I would have liked to have more meetings in person instead of communicating via email.” (Community 9) “Initially, I think I was intimidated by the entire process, hence not voicing as much as I should have. … I am accustomed to being told what to do in these types of situations; not making the decisions so changing the mentality was difficult at first.” (Community 7) |
| Community-university infrastructure was essential to partnership development and project progress |
Funding: “I definitely think creating opportunity by making funds available for community leaders/members to participate in any research area is worth the cost.” (Community 3) Training: “Having the CBPR training helped me know what kinds of things might be problematic… learning about typical areas that trip partnerships up.” (Faculty 5) “[Also, the importance of] understanding different cultures: academic and community. It's important to make us more conscious (of both). It is not just them working with us, it's us working with them. I have a part in making the partnership work, so it's good for me to know about the University.” (Community 7) “I think that including more about how to write the initial research proposal could have been more useful. I had to rely on my partner's expertise … because I lacked the experience.” (Community 9) Community Scholar support: “Everybody sharing their experiences made me feel I was not the only one going through that. And we could struggle together and learn from each other.” (Community 1) Partnership Facilitation: “That..facilitation session was helpful because I think it was at a time when we were a little bit stuck, and so just having an outside set of ears to help us process a little bit was really useful.” (Faculty 4) “I thought the program was run nicely by the leadership. It wasn't top-down. They allowed us to express our opinions and take ownership in the group as well. It gave us an example about how our partnership with the researcher should look like.” (Community 7) “Having an initial meeting with everyone involved- agency, university, PIR and myself would have been helpful.” (Community 5) |
1
Community indicates community scholar and identification number. Faculty indicates faculty partner and identification number.