Partner or perish: experiences from the field about collaborations for reform
Kim Boyer A C , Peter Orpin A and Judith Walker BA Department of Rural Health, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 103, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia.
B Rural Clinical School, PO Box 3513, Burnie, Tas. 7320, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: kim.boyer@utas.edu.au
Australian Journal of Primary Health 16(1) 104-107 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY09046
Published: 17 March 2010
Abstract
Collaborations between researchers, policy makers, service providers and community members are critical to the journey of health service reform. Challenges are multifaceted and complex. Partners come with a variety of challenging agendas, value sets and imperatives, and see the drivers for reform from different perspectives. Different skills are required for managing the partnership and for providing academic leadership, and different structural frameworks need to be put in place for each task in each project. We have found through a series of partnerships across our research theme of healthy ageing, and consequent translation into policy and practice, that significant and innovative effort is required for both the collaboration and the research to succeed. A shared understanding of the issues and challenges is a start, but not sufficient for longer-term success. In addition to managing the research, our experience has demonstrated the need to understand the different challenges faced by each of the partners, recognise and respect personal and organisational value systems, and to establish separate mechanisms to manage strong egos alongside, but outside of, the research process.
Additional keywords: ageing, partnerships, rural, services.
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