Brief Outline to Focus Group Guide and Question Summary:
February 20, 2009
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Introduce purposes of Focus Group
Hand out consent letter
Show model (as power point or handout)
Have available list of characteristics and power point presentation or handouts
After focus group, distribute demographics two-page sheet to fill out.
Preamble to Focus Groups:
Show model and provide an overview of the four dimensions (represented by each oval of the
model).
1. Context or influences that come from outside the research partners and partnership.
2. Group dynamics within the partnership that influence the partnership, both what
facilitates good interactions and what are the barriers to good partnering. These can be
individual factors (what attitudes and beliefs both academic and community partners
bring to the partnership), the relationship dynamics (how the research partners interact to
achieve the overall goal) and the structures that support partnerships (what agreements
and processes are in place to advance the partnership).
3. Intervention or the actual research project.
4. Outcomes or what has been achieved by the project and research partnership.
Part One: Community Consultation on Model
We are going to look at each of the dimensions and respond to what’s in the model first, and then
reflect on what we think is important to us: what from our own experience are the most
important factors for a research partnership. Think about your current and/or previous
partnerships as you answer.
Context: Starting with these six categories of context, which ones of these are important? Can
you provide examples of how they are important?
Next possible probes: What other context issue might be included? (What else might
influence the partnership?) If you have another issue that you think is important to
partnerships, how would you define it? Can you provide examples of why this context
issue is important to partnerships?
Group Dynamics: For each group dynamics category, there is a list of characteristics. (You can
hand out the characteristics summary box). For each category (individual factors, relationship
factors, structural factors), what characteristics do you think are important for partnerships? For
the one(s) you’ve chosen, how are they important?
Next possible probes: What other group dynamic issue might be included? (What else
might facilitate equitable partnerships? What else might be the barriers to equitable
partnerships?) If you have another issue that you think is important to partnerships, how
would you define it? Can you provide examples of why this group dynamics issue is
important to partnerships?
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Interventions: Here are three different categories of what is important to ensure intervention
appropriately matches community norms, beliefs or practices. What do you think are important
for partnerships? For the one(s) you’ve chosen, how are they important?
Next possible probes: What other intervention issue might be included? (What else might
facilitate effective interventions; or what else do you think is important for interventions
to be successful in this community? What else might be the barriers to effective
interventions?) If you have another issue that you think is important to partnerships, how
would you define it? Can you provide examples of why this intervention issue is
important to partnerships?
Outcomes: Starting with intermediate outcomes, (you could also refer to the characteristics box
again) what do you think are important for partnerships? For the one(s) you’ve chosen, how are
they important?
Next possible probes: What other intermediate outcomes might be included? If you have
another intermediate outcome that you think is important to partnerships, how would you
define it? Can you provide examples of why this outcome is important to partnerships?
Now, looking at health outcomes and reduced health disparities, what do you think are important
for partnerships? How are they important?
Next possible probes: What other health outcomes might be included? If you have
another health outcome that you think is important to partnerships, how would you define
it? Can you provide examples of why this outcome is important to for partnerships?
Summary: In sum, what might you now change in the model?
1. What might you now change in the model?
2. What could be strengthened or what still should be included?
3. Any other thoughts about dimensions or categories in the model?
Part Two: Evaluation and Reflections about your own Partnership
These questions can be asked for each dimension in the model. Think about your current
partnership as you answer these questions. There are more specific questions in the Focus group
guide for each dimension in the model:
I. Which category or issue have we had to tackle or which would be important to discuss
for our partnership at this time?
II. Use the next probes if answers to these questions have not already been discussed. The
first two questions are more factual and may be answered more quickly.
1. What is our current approach to this [dimension or specific issue] in our partnership?
2. What was our starting point in tackling this issue?
3. How well have we done so far?
4. Where would we like to be [choose one: in one year, five years, or another time span]?
5. What do you think are the best or promising practices to get there?
We have a few final questions:
1. How helpful has it been to use the model in evaluating our partnership and in
reflecting about the issues in our partnership?
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2. How could the model be changed to be more helpful in evaluating our partnerships?
3. Finally, what is the most important lesson learned from your work with this
partnership that might influence your decision to work with another partnership in the
future?
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