Meaningful and deep community engagement efforts for pragmatic research and beyond: engaging with an immigrant/racialised community on equitable access to care

Primary healthcare access is one of the crucial factors that ensures the health and well-being of a population. Immigrant/racialised communities encounter a myriad of barriers to accessing primary healthcare. As global migration continues to grow, the development and practice of effective strategies for research and policy regarding primary care access are warranted. Many studies have attempted to identify the barriers to primary care access and recommend solutions. However, top-down approaches where the researchers and policy-makers ‘prescribe’ solutions are more common than community-engaged approaches where community members and researchers work hand-in-hand in community-engaged research to identify the problems, codevelop solutions and recommend policy changes. In this article, we reflect on a comprehensive community-engaged research approach that we undertook to identify the barriers to equitable primary care access among a South Asian (Bangladeshi) immigrant community in Canada. This article summarised the experience of our programme of research and describes our understanding of community-engaged research among an immigrant/racialised community that meaningfully interacts with the community. In employing the principles of community-based participatory research, integrated knowledge translation and human centred design, we reflect on the comprehensive community-engaged research approach we undertook. We believe that our reflections can be useful to academics while conducting community-engaged research on relevant issues across other immigrant/racialised communities.

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Research From a Diné-Centered Perspective and the Development of a Community-Based Participatory Research Partnership

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/10901981211011926 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 361-370

Author(s):

Vincent Werito ◽

Lorenda Belone

Keyword(s):

Health Disparities ◽

Participatory Research ◽

Community Based Participatory Research ◽

Well Being ◽

Research Approach ◽

Research Partnership ◽

Community Based ◽

Community Engaged Research ◽

Intervention Approach ◽

Participatory Research Approach

Purpose. Indigenous ( Diné) communities have long endured high rates of behavioral and mental health diseases like depression, drug and alcohol dependency, and suicide due to historical trauma and posttraumatic stress disorders. Western research methods used to address these issues have often failed to provide sufficient understanding of the culturally nuanced dynamics underpinning these health disparities in Indigenous contexts. As a result, Indigenous health disparities have actually increased and complex culture-based relationships that influence health outcomes are underconceptualized. Aim. For the first time a community-based participatory research approach from a Diné perspective is introduced to three Navajo communities in New Mexico to collaboratively explore their perspectives about community-engaged research and community well-being from a Diné lens. The overarching research question was: Can a community-based participatory research approach embedded within a Diné research paradigm be utilized to develop a culturally centered intervention approach? Methods. The study utilized a mixed method approach that included surveys and focus groups. Results. Six overarching themes emerged that underscored the important role of utilizing a community-based participatory Diné-centered approach to define community well-being and increase community agency to address their own health disparities. Conclusion. Indigenous-centered community-engaged research can potentially become an intervention approach for informing Indigenous communities’ understandings of well-being by drawing upon local cultural Indigenous knowledge. This study demonstrated that developing an effective community-engaged research partnership to address health disparities in a Diné context must be informed by a Diné paradigm grounded in local community cultural knowledge.

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Variations in perceived primary healthcare access across family structures and their predictors in adolescents

Australian Journal of Primary Health ◽

10.1071/py15159 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 132 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kénora Chau ◽

Jean-Charles Vauthier ◽

Bernard Kabuth

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Socioeconomic Factors ◽

Psychological Health ◽

Healthcare Access ◽

Living Environment ◽

Family Type ◽

Intact Families ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Primary Care Access ◽

Care Access

Families have greatly changed over time and little is known about primary care access barriers for adolescents associated with family type. We assessed family disparities in lack of listening and treatment explanations (LLTE) by general practitioners (GP), lack of treatment adherence (LTA) and GP change and the confounding roles of socioeconomic factors, school, behaviour and health difficulties among 1559 middle-school-aged (9.9–18.8 years old) adolescents who completed a questionnaire on sex, age, socioeconomic characteristics (family structure, nationality, parents’ occupation, education and income), school performance, substance use, physical health, psychological health, social relationships, living environment, LLTE by GPs, LTA and GP change. Data were analysed using logistic regression models. LLTE, LTA and GP change affected 22.3, 38.0 and 7.3% of subjects respectively. Compared with the adolescents living in intact families, and controlling for sex and age, those with separated or divorced parents or reconstructed families and those with single parents respectively had 1.58- and 1.96-times higher LLTE risk and 1.48- and 1.72-times higher LTA risk. Adolescents with separated or divorced parents or reconstructed families had 1.92-times higher GP-change risk. Socioeconomic factors explained 16–36% of LLTE or LTA risks, but not GP-change risk. Further considering school, behaviour and health difficulties explained 55–87% of LLTE or LTA risks and 27% of GP-change risk. In conclusion, changes in family situations may have produced more non-intact families and adolescents with greater socioeconomic, school, behaviour and health difficulties. These factors are strong barriers to primary care access and may warrant prevention targets for adolescents, their parents, schools and GP.

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Community-Engaged Research With Indigenous Communities to Improve Elder Health and Well-Being

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.894 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 233-233

Author(s):

Jordan Lewis

Keyword(s):

Successful Aging ◽

Diabetes Management ◽

Community Based Participatory Research ◽

Indigenous Communities ◽

Past Research ◽

Well Being ◽

Research Approach ◽

Community Members ◽

Community Engaged Research ◽

Tribal Communities

Abstract Much of the past research conducted with tribal communities was coined "helicopter research," because researchers would enter the community, gather data, and leave the community, never to inform communities how the data was used or published, creating mistrust. Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is a research approach conducted as an equal partnership between community members, organizational representatives, and researchers that serve as guidelines for researchers working collaboratively with communities. This symposium will offer a panel of presentations highlighting research studies with tribal communities that honor and respect tribal sovereignty in addressing health and wellbeing among their older adults. The panel presentations will consist of presentations on dementia caregiving, generativity and successful aging, social support and diabetes management, elder-centered research methods.

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