Engaging Communities for Health: a Qualitative Study of Leadership in Eight New England HIV/AIDS Service Organization

Abstract

This study explores how leaders facilitate sustainable community health care delivery projects and engage communities in socially complex settings. These finding will address two broader research goals: first, to provide an in-depth understanding of the elements of leadership that bring about transformative social change in politically and socially complex settings; second, to discover key leadership strategies for successful community engagement in resource-limited settings. Specific aims and objectives of this research are: • To gain in-depth understanding of reoccurring challenges, patterns and variables that exist in socially complex settings that affect health care delivery projects, policies and outcomes • To assess factors impacting community engagement and the leader’s role in identifying opportunities and challenges for projects impacting health care delivery in socially complex settings • To gain an in-depth understanding of how effective leaders create support for collaborative efforts that advance health care delivery projects, initiatives and policies • To investigate how leaders extend the invitation of co-ownership to community and stakeholders to achieve consensus and “buy-in” for projects • To identify leadership strategies that produce effective collaboration among multiple stakeholders

• To understand more fully the dynamics of community engagement and leadership in the context of implementing sustainable large scale projects/interventions to promote solidarity among leaders, stakeholders and community