Community-Based Health Research Partnerships

Begin with your research question

Researchers looking for a community partner may begin with a hospital, health system, community health center, practice-based research network, or community-based organization. A mobile healthcare program may also fit when the study needs a partner that delivers care in community settings.

Consider a mobile program when the research involves:

Delivering or evaluating an intervention outside a fixed clinical site
Reaching people who face geographic, financial, transportation, language, or institutional barriers to care
Studying how an evidence-based intervention works under real operating conditions
Understanding trust, patient experience, cultural responsiveness, or engagement in community-based care
Connecting screening, treatment, referral, and follow-up across organizations
Examining differences in access, implementation, or outcomes across locations and populations

The question should matter to the program and community as well as to the researcher. Discuss access to patients, staff, sites, and data with program and community partners rather than assuming they will be available.

Research questions that may fit a mobile partnership

Chronic disease management

A mobile program may be a useful partner for research on screening, blood pressure or glycemic outcomes, medication access, self-management support, referral completion, continuity of care, and community-based models for chronic disease management.

Among 91 programs responding to the GMHRC National Mobile Health Survey, 62.6% reported providing chronic disease management and 64.8% reported providing primary care. Those figures describe the responding programs as a group. A researcher still needs to confirm the services, patient population, data, and follow-up capacity of an individual program.

Oral health and dental care

Mobile dental programs may support research on prevention, screening, treatment, school-based care, integration of oral health and primary care, referral completion, and barriers to ongoing dental services. In the GMHRC survey, 34.1% of 91 responding programs reported offering dental services.

Prevention and early detection

Mobile programs may fit studies of vaccination, cancer screening, cardiovascular risk assessment, infectious disease testing, health education, and navigation after an abnormal result. Preventive health screening was the most frequently reported service in the GMHRC survey, offered by 82.4% of 91 responding programs.

Cultural responsiveness, trust, and patient experience

Researchers studying cultural competence, cultural responsiveness, language access, trust, respect, or patient experience may be able to learn from mobile programs that work through established community relationships. The program and community should help define the question, measures, interpretation, and use of the findings. A mobile setting does not automatically make a study community-engaged or culturally responsive.

Health equity and access to care

Mobile programs may be relevant to research on geographic access, insurance status, transportation, delayed care, continuity, social needs, and the use of care across settings. Among 142 programs responding to the GMHRC survey, 59.2% reported serving low-income populations, 58.5% served uninsured populations, 47.2% served people experiencing homelessness, 38.7% served rural communities, and 35.2% served immigrants and refugees.

These figures describe the survey respondents and do not establish that any one program is an appropriate recruitment partner. Researchers should work with each program and its community partners to understand whom the program serves, whether the study is relevant, and how voluntary participation will be protected.

Implementation and health services research

Mobile care can provide a real-world setting for studying adoption, adaptation, fidelity, workflow, workforce, cost, sustainability, referral networks, and implementation across changing sites. Study designs must account for route changes, weather, vehicle maintenance, staffing, community events, and variation in local demand.

Behavioral, maternal, and other clinical research

Some mobile programs provide behavioral health, substance use treatment, maternal and infant care, vision services, pharmacy services, or specialty care. These programs may fit observational research, qualitative studies, pragmatic trials, mixed-methods studies, or implementation research when the question and study burden align with care delivery.

What a mobile healthcare program may contribute

Depending on the program, a research partnership may include:

A clinical setting embedded in community locations
Relationships with local organizations, site hosts, and patients
Clinical, outreach, navigation, and community health worker expertise
Knowledge of barriers that affect participation and follow-up
Existing service, encounter, referral, or outcome data
Experience adapting care across locations and populations
A setting for testing feasibility and implementation under routine conditions

Programs vary widely. Some have research staff, established data systems, and an academic partner. Others have limited staff time, incomplete data, or no prior research experience. These differences should shape the question and design.

Approach the program as a research partner

A mobile clinic contributes clinical work, operational knowledge, and community relationships. During early planning, confirm whether:

Recruitment can occur without affecting care or trust
Patients and community partners consider the question relevant
Staff time and other program costs are included in the budget
Available data are sufficiently complete and consistent for the proposed use
The program has an appropriate pathway for IRB review
The design accounts for differences among mobile healthcare settings
Community partners agree to the proposed role and relationship with the research team

Ask what the program and community would gain from the work, what burdens it may create, and which parts of the question and design should change.

Include the mobile program’s costs in the research budget

Mobile healthcare programs are often resource-constrained. If the research requires staff time, added data collection, project coordination, travel, or participation in presentations, include those costs in the proposal budget. Appropriate support may include a percentage of existing staff salaries and fringe benefits, a research coordinator or data manager position, technology and supplies, local travel, and the cost for program partners to present findings at a conference.

When the mobile program is a separate organization performing part of the research, use the subaward, contract, consortium agreement, or other funding mechanism appropriate to its role and the funder’s requirements. Develop the scope and budget with the program before submitting the proposal. See How Researchers Can Partner With Mobile Clinics for a fuller partnership budget checklist.

How to assess whether there is a fit

Before approaching a potential partner, prepare a short concept that answers:

What question are you trying to answer?
Why does the question matter to patients, communities, or care delivery?
What population, services, geography, and setting does the study require?
What would the program, its staff, patients, and partners be asked to do?
What data are needed, and could the study use data already collected?
How might research activities affect care, privacy, and trust?
What expertise and decisions will program and community partners contribute?
How will their time and work be funded?
What findings or tools will be returned to the program and community?
Which parts of the question, design, measures, budget, and timeline can still change?

Contact programs while the study can still be shaped around local priorities and operating realities. It is harder to build a shared partnership after the protocol, budget, and timeline are final.

Talk with GMHRC about finding a mobile program

GMHRC helps researchers identify and approach mobile healthcare programs that may fit their research questions. Start by scheduling a call with Maria Victoria Ferraris, GMHRC Executive Director.

Before the call, be ready to describe the research question, population, clinical or community setting, methods, geography, timeline, and funding status. You do not need a completed protocol. It is often more useful to begin while the question, design, budget, and timeline can still change.

Schedule a call with Maria.

Frequently asked questions

Can I partner with a mobile clinic if my question is not about mobile healthcare?

Yes. The research may focus on a condition, intervention, population, care process, or implementation question. Mobile care may be the setting or delivery partner rather than the subject of the study.

What kinds of researchers may find a mobile partnership useful?

Potential partners include researchers in public health, medicine, dentistry, nursing, behavioral health, health services, implementation science, epidemiology, social work, health economics, and related fields. Fit depends more on the question and methods than on the investigator’s discipline.

Can a mobile clinic help a study recruit a more diverse population?

Possibly. Review whom the program actually serves, involve program and community partners in recruitment planning, and protect patients from pressure to participate. Do not assume that a mobile setting automatically provides a diverse participant pool or community trust.

Do mobile clinics have data that researchers can use?

It varies. Programs may have clinical, encounter, referral, operational, cost, or patient-experience data, but definitions and completeness differ. Ask for a data inventory and assess quality before fixing the design.

When should I contact a mobile healthcare program?

Contact a potential partner while the question, design, budget, measures, and timeline can still change. Early contact is especially important before submitting a grant that depends on program participation.

How do I find a mobile clinic interested in research?

Look for programs whose services, population, geography, and priorities fit the question. Research networks, health systems, community health centers, and professional associations may provide introductions. GMHRC can help researchers identify and approach an appropriate mobile healthcare program. Schedule a call with Maria to discuss the question and the type of partner it may require.

Resources

All research resources

Reviewed by: Mollie Williams, DrPH, MPH
Last reviewed: 2026-08-28