Factors influencing community collaboration in public health initiatives in developing countries: A systemized review

Abstract

Safe drinking water is a basic necessity that remains out of reach for many people living in developing countries. Rural regions of Latin America are the least likely to have access to clean drinking water resulting in high morbidity and mortality (UNICEF, 2014). The World Health Organization (2015) urges community collaboration to address issues related to unsafe drinking water. For the past 12 years ECU College of Nursing has been working with community partners in Guatemala to address safe drinking water. Yet, it is unclear what factors contribute to the effectiveness and sustainability of community collaboration in public health initiatives, such as safe drinking water. A systemized review of the literature was conducted to ascertain the current state of the science of community collaboration in public health initiatives in developing counties. Five databases were searched: PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Sociological Abstracts, and SocINDEX. A total of 552 citations were retrieved and after deduplication, 524 citations remained. Three research team members independently reviewed the titles of articles. After exclusion criteria were applied to titles and abstracts, 77 articles were identified for the full-text screening. After the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 24 full text articles were included in the final review. The nine principles of community-based participatory research were used to rank level of community collaboration in the studies. Few studies (n = 3) had a high level of community collaboration, while most studies (n = 21) had a low to moderate level. High level community collaboration included empowering pre-existing leaders and strengthening pre-existing community networks. This review suggests ways to increase community collaboration in public health initiatives in developing countries and demonstrates a need for further research to determine effectiveness and sustainability through community collaboration in research.