Building Relationships Between Community Care Professionals and Convenience Stores in Japan: Community-Based Participatory Research

What Is the Purpose of this Study?

• • This study aimed to describe a community-based participatory research process and evaluate the development of collaborative relationships between health/social care professionals and convenience stores in the community.

What Is the Problem?

• • Although it is important to establish collaborations between health/social care professionals in the community and convenience stores, there are obstacles to this.

• • No previous studies had examined strategies for collaborating with private sector enterprises, such as convenience stores, based on the cultures of enterprises and communities.

What Are the Findings?

• • As a result of approaching convenience stores directly, based on the public support agreement, the relationships between healthcare professionals and convenience stores and helping behaviors improved significantly.

Who Should Care Most?

• • Health/social care providers, who need to collaborate with various community members.

• • Researchers and municipal government, who aim to construct an effective community-based integrated care system.

Recommendations for Action

• • The two-step strategy to build organizational and individual collaborative relationships, which includes direct approach by health/social care professionals, would effectively promote collaboration and helping behaviors at convenience stores.

• • The strategy could be applied to build relationships with other private sectors, such as supermarkets, banking services, and newspaper delivery services.