Background: The Resident Education in Advocacy and Child Health (REACH) pathway at a large academic pediatric residency program in the Northwest includes an academic-community partnership in a rural community. Few academic-community partnership evaluations have focused on community values. REACH trainees conducted a 5-year evaluation of the partnership using community-generated outcomes measures. We sought to 1) apply community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles to engage community stakeholders, 2) mutually develop program evaluation measures, and 3) describe core projects and the community's perceptions of the REACH program. A secondary objective was to evaluate REACH pathway influence on trainee alumni.
Methods: We used a community-informed design to determine outcomes and indicators, 2) gathered data through iterative review of materials, stakeholder interviews, and alumni surveys, and 3) conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis and synthesis.
Results: Four short-term outcomes measures were identified for a logic model: 1) project sustainability, 2) direct engagement with youth, 3) Community partnerships, and 4) "ripple effects." Of non-foundational projects, 50% were sustained at the time of the evaluation. Fourteen projects (70%) engaged youth. At least five ongoing community partnerships were identified. Four stakeholders (24%) noted a ripple effect. Trainee alumni reported increased confidence in research skills, cultural competence, and appreciation of community perspectives. Key themes of the partnership's value were relationships, outsider perspective and professional expertise, trainees as catalyst, and balance of research with action.
Conclusions: Our evaluation demonstrated the partnership's value to community and trainees and yielded suggestions for increasing the program's impact. We believe that key elements of this evaluation could be used in other academic-community partnership programs.