Posted on March 24: CanChild researchers measure impact of research on the community

In the past decade there has been a clear move toward the development of research partnerships and alliances. It is estimated that 148 community-university research partnerships exist in Canada, accounting for approximately $340 million in research funding.

Despite the millions of dollars spent on such partnerships, the impact of these research alliances has rarely been measured.

CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, located in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, is a health-system linked research unit, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care since 1989.

Researchers at CanChild and four other community-university research partnerships have joined together to develop a reliable means of measuring the impact of these partnerships that address social or health services issues.

Three other research alliances involved in the study include, The Research Alliance for Children with Special Needs, in London, Ont., Enhancement of Youth Resiliency and Reduction of Harmful Behaviours Leading to Healthy Lifestyle Choices, in St. Catharines, and Partnerships in Capacity Building, Housing, Community Economic Development and Psychiatric Survivors, also in London. The fourth partnership project, Therapeutic Relationships from Hospital to Community, is based in London, Hamilton and Whitby.

CanChild's co-directors, Mary Law and Peter Rosenbaum are investigators on the study headed by Gillian King, research director at both the Research Alliance for Children with Special Needs and Thames Valley Children's Centre in London.

The $150,000 award for the “Measuring the External Impact of University-Community Research Alliances and Partnerships Addressing Social/Health Services Issues” study is provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

The aim of this three-year research program is to develop a survey measure based on three types of community impact: enhanced knowledge among community members, enhanced research skills and critical appraisal competencies among community members and the use of information by individuals, organizations, and communities.

Researchers expect this measurement instrument will be widely used in Canada and beyond in the social and health services sectors. It will be of benefit to members of research partnerships who want to evaluate their effectiveness and adjust their activities to meet the needs of the community.

The measure will also be useful to community stakeholders and advisory boards, policy makers and grant program officers and will provide a needed outcome measure for researchers to examine questions about knowledge dissemination.