The role of Latino/Hispanic communities in health services research: Strategies for a meaningful partnership

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Abstract
This paper critically assesses the important elements of the Latino/Hispanic community's participation in health services research and the known barriers to effective collaboration, and provides suggestions that may contribute toward a meaningful partnership among health care providers, researches and the community. The discussion focuses on central strategies for community participation to help improve existing health care services' effectiveness, specifically for low-income Latino/Hispanic groups. It reviews current approaches for including communities in health care delivery and health services research and draws examples from the author's experiences of working with Latino/Hispanic communities for almost 20 years. The data implies that mutual benefits can be derived from forging alliances and meaningful partnerships between the health services research community and the Latino/Hispanic community.