Sustaining Successful Clinical-community Partnerships in Medically Underserved Urban Areas: A Qualitative Case Study

ABSTRACT

Clinical-community partnerships can improve access and receipt of preventive health services in community settings. Understanding how to sustain their potential benefits is warranted. Qualitative case-study of the Faith Community Health Partnership (FCHP), a collaboration between faith-community nurses and community organizations sustained over 25 years. We used content analysis principles to report on partnership sustainability themes identified through semi-structured interviews with FCHP partners (n = 18). Factors supporting partnership sustainability: Maintaining partners’ commitment over time; strategic resource-sharing; facilitating engagement; and preserving partnership flexibility. Sustaining clinical-community partnerships is a dynamic and continuous process requiring significant time, effort, and resources on behalf of partners.

Acknowledgments

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.

Conflicts of interest

We declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UCLA Translational Science Fellowship TL1E000121; the AHRQ Los Angeles Health Services Research Training Program Fellowship AHRQ 2T32HS000046; and the Department of Veterans Affairs, Quality Enhancement Research Initiative through a grant to the Care Coordination QUERI Program (QUE 15-276)