Building Sustainable Community-Academic Partnerships while Implementing a Nutrition-Based Blackberry Garden Program at a Senior Center

ABSTRACT

Due to limited access to and low consumption of fruits and vegetables, older adults are at increased risk of worsening or developing chronic diseases. This paper describes a community-academic partnership that provides a sustainable source of blackberries to attendees of a rural senior center. Qualitative research evaluated the partnership following implementation of a blackberry program. Focus groups and interviews included partners from a senior center, Cooperative Extension Service, and a detention center. Main themes: group power dynamics influenced communication between research and community leadership teams; unexpected project barriers emerged; and community leadership team suggested strategies to promote project longevity.

KEYWORDS:

• community-academic partnerships
• older adults
• nutrition intervention
• blackberries
• built environment
• Cooperative Extension Service

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P42ES007380. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.