Objective: To describe elements and strategies for the development and maintenance of collaborative research relationships.
Design: This presentation will discuss strategies useful in fostering research relationships during the planning, implementation, and evaluation of collaborative projects. Main points will be illustrated by experiences drawn from the Swaziland Rural Health Initiative, a program for home based care and HIV/AIDS risk reduction developed to address the HIV crisis in Swaziland, a small country in southern Africa with one of the world’s highest HIV prevalence rates.
Setting: This presentation draws examples from ongoing collaboration both to establish and to evaluate the Swaziland Rural Health Initiative. Collaborators in developing and implementing the program included the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing WHO Collaborating Centre, Swaziland Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation: Secure the Future, and Cabrini Mission Foundation. Evaluation of the program involved these collaborators with the addition of the University of Swaziland Faculty of Health Sciences and the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center’s Minority International Research Training Program.
Findings: This discussion focuses on establishing and maintaining successful research relationships through collaboration, communication, and cultural awareness. It highlights some of the strategies used to smooth the research process as well as circumvent obstacles on the path to collaborative work involving multiple stakeholders.
Conclusions: Successful research collaboration calls for well thought out plans, the ability to anticipate the unexpected, and the flexibility to respond with grace, humor, and perseverance, with all collaborators staying focused on the common goals.
Implications: The points presented in this discussion will assist those planning or engaged in collaborative research to maximize their ability to enter into and sustain successful research partnerships.
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