ReviewBMC health services research2018
Achieving successful community engagement: a rapid realist review.
Review in BMC health services research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 223 citations in OpenAlex.
- Establishing a safe community program: a qualitative systematic literature review.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Measurement and evaluation of community engagement in complex, chronic medical conditions: HIV and obesity as exemplar conditions.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- Exploring the potential of a school brushing program using a connected brush in underserved areas: a feasibility cluster randomised trial.BMC oral health · 2025Trial
- Meaningful engagement of lived experience in diabetes research and health service improvement: A rapid review of barriers to and enablers for community involvement among adults with type 2 diabetes.Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association · 2026Review
- Cancer early detection research priorities in some underrepresented communities: a commentary of the learnings from a community priority setting project.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Inclusiveness of social participation for health reform: findings from a realist review.International journal for equity in health · 2026Review
- Collaboration between healthcare citizen initiatives and primary healthcare care providers: semi-structured interviews and focus groups with Dutch stakeholders.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Engaging communities in public health practice: lived experience or lived expertise?International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Using Textural Analysis of Thermal Imaging to Predict Healing Status of Diabetes-Related Neuropathic Foot Ulcers: Protocol for a Co-Design and Longitudinal Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Methods of Engaging Interest-Holders in Healthcare Evidence Syntheses: A Scoping Review.Cochrane evidence synthesis and methods · 2026Review
- Knowledge-Sharing Practices Among Dentists, Pharmacists, and Allied Health Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Study in Eastern Cape Public Hospitals, South Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Community engagement in mass drug administration participatory interventions: A scoping review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Building trust and equity in vaccine communication through community engagement.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Review
- Implementation matters: program impact pathway analysis of four sectoral nutrition-sensitive interventions in Anambra and Kebbi states, Nigeria.Global health action · 2025Article
- "We get support now …": a mixed methods study of patients' experiences of healthcare under the national health insurance scheme (PM-JAY) in India.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Community engagement supports maternal health care attitudes and utilisation: mixed-method evaluation evidence from the CONNECT Initiative in Lao PDR.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- The Use of Community Engagement in Implementation: Successes and Challenges From the Implementation and Adaptation of Bundled HIV Interventions for Black Women.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- In the aftermath of the adoption of the landmark Pandemic Accord: what are the strategic options for its effective implementation in Africa?Globalization and health · 2025Article
- A mixed methods analysis of community capacity to address health equity in the rural Southern U.S.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCommunity engagement is increasingly seen as crucial to achieving high quality, efficient and collaborative care. However, organisations are still searching for the best and most effective ways to engage citizens in the shaping of health and care services. This review highlights the barriers and enablers for engaging communities in the planning, designing, governing, and/or delivering of health and care services on the macro or meso level. It provides policymakers and professionals with evidence-based guiding principles to implement their own effective community engagement (CE) strategies.
methodsA Rapid Realist Review was conducted to investigate how interventions interact with contexts and mechanisms to influence the effectiveness of CE. A local reference panel, consisting of health and care professionals and experts, assisted in the development of the research questions and search strategy. The panel's input helped to refine the review's findings. A systematic search of the peer-reviewed literature was conducted.
resultsEight action-oriented guiding principles were identified: Ensure staff provide supportive and facilitative leadership to citizens based on transparency; foster a safe and trusting environment enabling citizens to provide input; ensure citizens' early involvement; share decision-making and governance control with citizens; acknowledge and address citizens' experiences of power imbalances between citizens and professionals; invest in citizens who feel they lack the skills and confidence to engage; create quick and tangible wins; take into account both citizens' and organisations' motivations.
conclusionsAn especially important thread throughout the CE literature is the influence of power imbalances and organisations' willingness, or not, to address such imbalances. The literature suggests that 'meaningful participation' of citizens can only be achieved if organisational processes are adapted to ensure that they are inclusive, accessible and supportive of citizens.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.