Research-practice partnership in mental health: lessons from participants.

Despite pervasive calls for increased collaboration between researchers and practitioners, there has been limited research on research-practice partnership in mental health. This qualitative study describes one research-practice partnership that supports a study of community-based psychotherapy for children and families. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with all 12 participants (six Researchers and six Practitioners) to elicit perceptions of the collaborative process, including (a) attitudes and experiences entering into the collaboration, (b) perceived challenges and benefits, and (c) suggestions for improvements in future efforts. The findings reinforce the central role of communication and trust-building in developing effective collaborations and exchanging knowledge.