Principles of Trustworthiness Toolkit

We are honored to be a partner in AAMC’s Principles of Trustworthiness project. 

Since 2015, the AAMC has produced an annual series of Community Engagement Toolkits in collaboration with our members and their communities. These toolkits provide unvarnished community perspectives on crucial issues and views about how our members can be better partners.  

This year, the AAMC Collaborative for Health Equity: Act, Research, Generate Evidence (CHARGE) — the AAMC’s national collaborative of health equity scholars, practitioners, and community partners — gathered perspectives from a diverse set of 30 community members from across the United States regarding trust, COVID-19, and clinical trial participation.   

These 10 Principles of Trustworthiness integrate local perspectives with established precepts of community engagement to guide health care, public health, and other organizations as they work to demonstrate they are worthy of trust. The AAMC Center for Health Justice, launching later in 2021, will continue this work to support organizations right now and in the future as they partner with communities and the many sectors that serve them to develop ways to shift our society toward health equity and justice. 

Principles of Trustworthiness Community Video (Spanish Subtitles) from AAMC on Vimeo. 

This video, part of the AAMC Center for Health Justice Principles of Trustworthiness, underscores reasons and causes for mistrust of the health care system and offers suggested actions that organizations of all kinds can take to demonstrate they are trustworthy. To learn more about the Principles of Trustworthiness, visit aamc.org/trustworthiness

This work is funded by a cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Improving Clinical and Public Health Outcomes through National Partnerships to Prevent and Control Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease Threats (Award # 1 NU50CK000586-01-00) 

Deserving trust is crucial to equitably partner with the communities you engage and to achieve health justice. 

Remember, though, the process of engagement is as important as the product. Here are 10 principles that community stakeholders endorse as the guiding compass on your journey to establishing trustworthiness.