What Is Community? An Evidence-Based Definition for Participatory Public Health
Kathleen M. MacQueen, PhD, MPH,
Eleanor McLellan, MA,
David S. Metzger, PhD,
Susan Kegeles, PhD,
Ronald P. Strauss, PhD,
Roseanne Scotti, MA,
Lynn Blanchard, PhD and
Robert T. Trotter, II, PhD
At the time of the study, Kathleen M. MacQueen and Eleanor McLellan were with the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. David S. Metzger and Roseanne Scotti are with the Center for Studies of Addiction, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Susan Kegeles is with the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California at San Francisco. Ronald P. Strauss is with the Schools of Dentistry and Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lynn Blanchard is with Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pa. Robert T. Trotter II is with the Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be addressed to the Office of Communications, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mail Stop E-06, Atlanta, GA 30333.
Increased emphasis on community collaboration indicates theneed for consensus regarding the definition of community withinpublic health. This study examined whether members of diverseUS communities described community in similar ways.
To identify strategies to support community collaboration inHIV vaccine trials, qualitative interviews were conducted with25 African Americans in Durham, NC; 26 gay men in San Francisco,Calif; 25 injection drug users in Philadelphia, Pa; and 42 HIVvaccine researchers across the United States. Verbatim responsesto the question "What does the word community mean to you?"were analyzed. Cluster analysis was used to identify similaritiesin the way community was described.
A common definition of community emerged as a group of peoplewith diverse characteristics who are linked by social ties,share common perspectives, and engage in joint action in geographicallocations or settings. The participants differed in the emphasisthey placed on particular elements of the definition. Communitywas defined similarly but experienced differently by peoplewith diverse backgrounds. These results parallel similar socialscience findings and confirm the viability of a common definitionfor participatory public health.
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