Sustaining Community Engagement: Lessons Learned From Medical Education for Community-Academic Partnerships

Objective We describe a novel evaluation of attitudes toward engagement with a required medical school course from the perspective of the participating community organizations. We then consider lessons learned about sustained community engagement from this longstanding community-academic partnership and potential implications for public health and research partnerships. The aim of this observational study is to assess facilitators of community engagement to improve engagement with community organizations.Methods Data collection consisted of end-of-course evaluations collected from community mentors of the student teams. Surveys were completed at the end of each course and they used a common set of questions across cohorts. Data from the Class of 2019 through the Class of 2026 were analyzed using a qualitative framework and descriptive statistics.Results One hundred mentors completed surveys across 7 years of measurement. The most frequently cited reasons for participating are interest in influencing the training of health professionals, needing additional help, and wanting a relationship with the university. Community organizations agreed or strongly agreed that the community/people served benefitted from projects and that the relationships will continue. Organizations reported a wide variety of benefits, and current and planned uses for project findings, ranging from internal program evaluation and planning to external outreach, education, and advocacy.Conclusions Facilitators and drivers of successful partnerships are essential for project success and sustained community engagement. Our data and experience suggest that documented community benefit is essential for long-term engagement, adding to the current literature for community engagement in medical education and research.