This month’s literature search explores the importance of health and academic partnerships.
Improving health outcomes relies on strong academic partnerships that enable innovation and support high‑quality education and research. These partnerships work best when collaboration is coordinated, strategic and aligned across health and academic sectors.
Academic Partnership benefits include:
- Opportunities for joint activities in learning, teaching, research and workforce development
- The promotion of mutual benefits through shared resources, knowledge exchange and innovation
- Increased funding opportunities through joint grants and research funding.
- Transforming healthcare delivery
- Strengthened local and international reputation, reflecting the parties’ shared commitment to academic and clinical excellence.
Strong health and academic partnerships are also supported by genuine collaboration with consumers, carers and community organisations. These community partnerships help ensure education, research and service improvement are shaped by lived experience and reflect the needs and priorities of the people each organisation serves. Involving communities early, and in meaningful ways, supports more relevant, trusted and practical outcomes across learning, research and care delivery.
For more information about academic and community partnerships at CHS, contact the Office of Research and Education: chs.research@act.gov.au
Full-text articles
Africa, L., Wonderly, J., & Schmunk, R. (2025). A pathway for success: Recruitment and retention of student externs in a nurse residency program. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 56(10), 421–427. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20250804-01
Arnold, L., Vosseberg, F., Bimczok, S., Brand, H., Clemens, T., Stratil, J. M., Weyers, S., Starke, D., Lakemann, M., Schuett, H., Dragano, N., Dilmaghani, D., Hoehmann, A., Goetz, S., Ambalavanar, R., Kietzmann, A., Melville-Drewes, A., Schenuit, G., Schoner, T., … Urban, L. (2025). Bridging theory and practice: a qualitative interview study of barriers to and facilitators of research collaborations between academia and public health services in Germany. Health Research Policy and Systems, 23(1), 142. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-025-01413-w
Bibbins-Domingo, K., & Fernandez, A. (2022). Physician–public health practitioners—The missing academic medicine career track. JAMA Health Forum, 3(3), e220949. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2022.0949
Coombe, C. M., Schulz, A. J., Guluma, L., Allen, A. J., Gray, C., Brakefield-Caldwell, W., Guzman, J. R., Lewis, T. C., Reyes, A. G., Rowe, Z., Pappas, L. A., & Israel, B. A. (2020). Enhancing capacity of community–academic partnerships to achieve health equity: Results from the CBPR Partnership Academy. Health Promotion Practice, 21(4), 552–563. https://cho.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61CHO_INST/12d35m3/cdi_pubmedcentral_primary_oai_pubmedcentral_nih_gov_7785320
Davis, L., Ko, A., Turner, J. A., & Gagleard, R. (2026). Brilliant at the Basics Part II: An academic– practice partnership collaboration and its impact on the nursing and health care leadership workforce. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 57(1), 47–52. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20251009-02
Dunbar, G. B., Breckenridge, D., Ferrer, N. M., & Kawar, L. N. (2023). Academic–practice partnership: Benefits of collaboration between service and academia. International Journal for Human Caring, 27(4), 243–249. https://cho.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61CHO_INST/12d35m3/cdi_crossref_primary_10_20467_IJHC_2022_0003
Erwin, P. C., Grubaugh, J. H., Mazzucca-Ragan, S., & Brownson, R. C. (2023). The value and impacts of academic public health departments. Annual Review of Public Health, 44(1), 343–362. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-071421-031614
Erwin, P. C., Parks, R. G., Mazzucca, S., Allen, P., Baker, E. A., Hu, H., Davis-Joyce, J., & Brownson, R. C. (2019). Evidence-based public health provided through local health departments: Importance of academic–practice partnerships. American Journal of Public Health, 109(5), 739–747. https://cho.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61CHO_INST/12d35m3/cdi_pubmedcentral_primary_oai_pubmedcentral_nih_gov_6459662
Fielman, S., Elliott, P. A., Codner, A., Abousleiman, H., Cogan, A., Wangstrom, Z., & Greece, J. A. (2024). Building capacity for local public health: Lessons from a mixed-methods evaluation of an academic-public health partnership used in response to COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1387371
Halverson, K. L., Lalonde, M., Duchscher, J., Xin, S., Currie, C., & Raynak, A. (2026). Optimizing academic-practice partnerships to promote transition to nursing practice. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 58(1), 6–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/08445621251366583
Joseph, M. L., Williams, M., Reinke, K., Bair, H., Chae, S., Hanrahan, K., st. Marie, B.,
Jenkins, P., Albert, N. M., Gullatte, M. M., Rogers, D. M., Swan, B. A., Holden, T., Woods, E., DeGuzman, P. B., DeGennaro, G., Marshall, D., Hein, M., Perkhounkova, Y., & Huber, D. L. (2024). Development and testing of the relational and structural components of innovativeness across academia and practice for healthcare progress Scale. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 54(5), 260–269. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001422
Kapu, A. N., & McCamey, D. (2023). Health system-academic partnerships. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 53(9), 434–435. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001320
Manning, M. L., Zabriskie, K., Egger, S., Kerr, M., Kay, J., & Renzi, J. (2024). Academic-practice partnership: Exploring a model for collaborative nursing education in infection prevention and control. American Journal of Infection Control, 52(10), 1223–1224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2024.07.016
Mathisen, C., Bjørk, I. T., Heyn, L. G., Jacobsen, T.-I., & Hansen, E. H. (2023). Practice education facilitators perceptions and experiences of their role in the clinical learning environment for nursing students: a qualitative study. BMC Nursing, 22(1), 165. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-023-01328-3
Mazzucca-Ragan, S., Allen, P., Amos, K., Barker, A. R., Brewer, M., Erwin, P. C., Gannon, J., Gao, F., Jacob, R. R., Lengnick-Hall, R., & Brownson, R. C. (2025). Improving cancer prevention and control through implementing academic-local public health department partnerships – protocol for a cluster-randomized implementation trial using a positive deviance approach. Implementation Science Communications, 6(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-025-00706-z
Morgan, I. A., Tucker, C., Urlaub, D. M., Shuler, T. O., & Cilenti, D. (2020). Leveraging an academic-practice partnership to improve maternal and child health outcomes in North Carolina. North Carolina Medical Journal, 81(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.81.1.5
Moss, A., Cygan, H., Geis, A., Bejster, M., Ferry-Rooney, R., Kalensky, M., Delaney, K. R., Cavenagh, Y., Gallagher, T., Garbarz, K., & Rousseau, J. (2023). Development and validation of an operational model for nursing academic-practice partnerships. Nurse Educator, 48(6), 316–320. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000001432
Otts, J. A., Pittman, J., Riley, B., Mestas, L., & Hall, H. (2023a). Academic-practice partnership to prevent and manage pressure injuries. Journal of Wound, Ostomy & Continence Nursing, 50(6), 463–473. https://doi.org/10.1097/WON.0000000000001019
Phillips, J. M., Phillips, C. R., Kauffman, K. R., Gainey, M., & Schnur, P. L. (2019). Academic–practice partnerships: A win-win. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 50(6), 282–288. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20190516-09
Sánchez, V., Sanchez‑Youngman, S., Dickson, E., Burgess, E., Haozous, E., Trickett, E., Baker, E., & Wallerstein, N. (2021). CBPR Implementation Framework for community‑academic partnerships. American Journal of Community Psychology, 67(3–4), 284–296. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12506
Scalise, D., Thach, S. B., & Matheson, E. v. (2025). Leveraging academic health departments for place-based disaster response: Lessons from Helene in Western North Carolina. Journal of Appalachian Health, 7(3), 160–166. https://doi.org/10.13023/jah.0703.12 (Download button for article in top RH corner of page).
Scott, V. C., Tolley, A. J., Langhinrichsen‑Rohling, J., Walker, K., & Greene, T. (2024). H.O.P.E. grows: An academic‑public health partnership to reimagine public health services and increase mental health access among socially vulnerable populations. Health Services Research, 59(S1). https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.14253
Valdez, C. R., Petruzzi, L., Schnarrs, P. W., Banks, T., Coombe, C. M., & Israel, B. A. (2025). Forging partnerships for health equity research: transformative capacity-building for community-academic teams. Frontiers in Public Health, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1617711
White, K. M., Drainoni, M.-L., Elliott, P., Hurley, M., Cunnington, S., & Greece, J. (2025). A typology of US public health work-education programs. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, 31(3), E134–E143. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000002079