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Kathleen M. MacQueen, PhD, MPH, Eleanor McLellan, MA, David S. Metzger, PhD, Susan Kegeles, PhD, Ronald P. Strauss, PhD, Roseanne Scotti, MA, Lynn Blanchard, PhD and Robert T. Trotter, II, PhD

At the time of the study, Kathleen M. MacQueen and Eleanor McLellan were with the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. David S. Metzger and Roseanne Scotti are with the Center for Studies of Addiction, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Susan Kegeles is with the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California at San Francisco. Ronald P. Strauss is with the Schools of Dentistry and Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lynn Blanchard is with Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pa. Robert T. Trotter II is with the Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be addressed to the Office of Communications, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mail Stop E-06, Atlanta, GA 30333.

Increased emphasis on community collaboration indicates the need for consensus regarding the definition of community within public health. This study examined whether members of diverse US communities described community in similar ways.

To identify strategies to support community collaboration in HIV vaccine trials, qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 African Americans in Durham, NC; 26 gay men in San Francisco, Calif; 25 injection drug users in Philadelphia, Pa; and 42 HIV vaccine researchers across the United States. Verbatim responses to the question "What does the word community mean to you?" were analyzed. Cluster analysis was used to identify similarities in the way community was described.

A common definition of community emerged as a group of people with diverse characteristics who are linked by social ties, share common perspectives, and engage in joint action in geographical locations or settings. The participants differed in the emphasis they placed on particular elements of the definition. Community was defined similarly but experienced differently by people with diverse backgrounds. These results parallel similar social science findings and confirm the viability of a common definition for participatory public health.

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