Developing community-academic partnerships to enhance breast health among rural and Hispanic migrant and seasonal farmworker women.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To examine effective strategies for building community-academic partnerships for the promotion of breast cancer education and outreach among rural and Hispanic migrant and seasonal farmworker women, mostly from Mexican descent.

DATA SOURCES: Published research and education articles and books, community-education models, personal experiences, and community key informant feedback.

DATA SYNTHESIS: Effective community partnerships for enhanced education and outreach include a framework based on a network of partners with common goals, communication processes based on trust, and bilingual/bicultural and culturally competent staff.

CONCLUSIONS: A sustainable community partnership can be achieved through systematic but flexible approaches to community planning. Involvement of community members in the development and implementation of education and screening activities helps ensure that community needs are met. Relationships based on mutual respect are key.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Nurses can act as catalysts through community capacity building to create community-academic partnerships to reach medically underserved populations with cancer screening, outreach, and education through the delivery of strategies that are based on common goals.