The roadmap for community engagement: co-design and evaluation of a toolkit to strengthen community-academic research partnerships.

BACKGROUND

The Roadmap for Community Engagement (Roadmap) is a publicly online available resource co-designed with community partners that aims to support effective research engagement. The Roadmap is designed to be accessible and useful to a wide range of community members, public health practitioners, researchers, and community health advocates. The current study aimed to assess the Roadmap's perceived usefulness, relevance, and potential for implementation.

METHODS

Data were collected over 12 months using a mixed methods design. Partner surveys, focus groups, and field notes were collected from biweekly academic-community partner collaboration sessions, two Roadmap content-review cycles, and a 2-day evaluation event with community partners. Data were analyzed separately and combined using a concurrent narrative format.

RESULTS

Among 90 community partners, 94% reported the Roadmap was useful, 92% anticipated strengthened connections, and 89% agreed it addressed organizational needs. Qualitative themes highlighted accessibility, adaptability, and feasibility for sustaining partnerships as strengths of the Roadmap. Potential challenges included language access, limited infrastructure to implement the Roadmap, financial and time constraints.

CONCLUSIONS

The Roadmap is a rigorously co-developed, adaptable toolkit that can support equitable research partnerships. Findings justify formal effectiveness testing and implementation studies on scalability across settings to advance health equity.