Making collaboration work: Key components of practice/research partnerships.

This paper outlines several key components of successful practice/research collaboration: forming equal partnerships, bilateraly communication, ensuring nonheirarchical collaborations, and appropriate dissemination of outcomes. It also draws upon the experience of one community provider involved in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (Aegis Medical Systems, Inc., PR Node). Many concrete benefits can result from collaborative research projects, including additional services, program development, and training for service agency staff. Building partnerships takes time and a good amount of planning and negotiation prior to writing proposals. However, these collaborations can result in more effective efforts to solve common problems and reach common goals.