scholarly journals Shifting to Virtual CBPR Protocols in the Time of Corona Virus/COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 160940692097731
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Salerno Valdez ◽  
Aline Gubrium

COVID-19 has upended community based participatory research (CBPR) projects across the United States and globally. COVID-19 disproportionately impacts historically disenfranchised communities and communities of color, the very communities that CBPR is meant to engage, elevate, and support. In-person activities that help develop rapport and research protocols, build capacity, conduct collaborative data collection and analysis, disseminate findings to the community, and engage in sustainability planning are an impossible practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this article is to describe the challenges and facilitators of shifting to a virtual/online CBPR protocol with a Massachusetts community disproportionately affected by COVID19, as a means to keep them engaged in the research process and to elevate their experiences, perspectives, and voices during this critical time. We include insights about how to facilitate recruitment and compensate community members, form a community advisory board (CAB), hold CAB meetings, and transition participatory qualitative data collection, analysis, and dissemination to a virtual/online framework.

Author(s):  
Michael Duke

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) refers to a methodological and epistemological approach to applied community projects in which researchers and community members collaborate as equals in the research process. Also known as participatory action research (PAR), CBPR has gained considerable acceptance both as a set of methods for identifying and addressing local issues of concern and as a vehicle for applying the principles of equity, cultural humility, mutual learning, and social justice to the relationships between researchers and communities. Although somewhat distinct from applied anthropology, CBPR shares with ethnography in particular an attentiveness to rapport building and community engagement and an overall validation of local knowledge. There is little consensus regarding the threshold of community participation necessary for a given research project to be considered CBPR. However, at a minimum the approach requires that community members define the problems to be assessed, provide consultation on the cultural and social dimensions of the study population, and serve in an advisory capacity over the entire project. The history of CBPR and its antecedents reflects its twin values as a pragmatic approach to researching and addressing local problems and as an emancipatory social justice project that seeks to diminish the hierarchical relationship between researchers and community members. Specifically, the pragmatic perspective was developed in the United States by social psychologist Kurt Lewin in the 1930s (and subsequently by the anthropologists Laura Thompson and Sol Tax), while the emancipatory approach derives from the work of educational theorist Paulo Freire in Brazil in the 1970s. Community Advisory Boards (CABs) play an outsized role in the success of CBPR projects, since they typically represent the community in these studies, and thus maintain oversight over all aspects of the research process, including the study design, sampling and recruitment protocols, and the dissemination of findings. Accordingly, nurturing and maintaining trust between researchers, the CAB, and the community constitutes a foundational practice for any CBPR study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kathryn Stewart ◽  
Nicola Spencer ◽  
Anna H. Davis ◽  
Camille Hart ◽  
Beatrice Boateng

IntroductionEffective translational research requires engagement and collaboration between communities, researchers, and practitioners. We describe a community scientist academy (CSA) developed at the suggestion of our Clinical and Translational Science Awards’ (CTSA) community advisory board to engage and capacitate community members by (1) increasing community members’ and patients’ understanding about the research process and (2) increasing their access to opportunities to influence and participate in research. A joint CTSA/community planning committee developed this 8-hour workshop including sessions on: (1) research definitions and processes; (2) study design; (3) study implementation; and (4) ways to get involved in research. The workshop format includes interactive exercises, content slides and videos, and researcher and community presenters.MethodsCommunity-based information sessions allowed assessment of community interest before piloting. Two pilots of the CSA were conducted with community members and patients. Participant data and a pre/post knowledge and feedback survey provide evaluation data.ResultsThe pilot included 24 diverse participants, over half of whom had not previously participated in research. Evaluation data suggest knowledge gains. Post-CSA, one-third have reviewed CTSA pilot grants and over 80% want to attend further training.ConclusionsThe CSA can demystify the research process for those underrepresented in research and facilitate their engagement and influence within CTSAs.


Author(s):  
Tracey Marie Barnett

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) embraces a partnership approach to research that equitably involves community members, organizational representatives, social workers, and researchers in all aspects of the research process. CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community and has the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change. It is community based in the sense that community members become part of the research team and researchers become engaged in the activities of the community. Community–researcher partnerships allow for a blending of values and expertise, promoting co-learning and capacity building among all partners, and integrating and achieving a balance between research and action for the mutual benefit of all partners. Various terms have been used to describe this research, including participatory action research (PAR), action research (AR), community based research (CBR), collaborative action research (CAR), anti-oppressive research, and feminist research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (14) ◽  
pp. 2343-2350
Author(s):  
Candice M. Waddell ◽  
Rachel V. Herron ◽  
Jason Gobeil ◽  
Frank Tacan ◽  
Margaret De Jager ◽  
...  

Research continues to be a dirty word for many Indigenous people. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a means to disrupt power dynamics by engaging community members within the research process. However, the majority of relationships between researcher and participants within CBPR are structured within Western research paradigms and they often reproduce imbalances of power. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the process of CBPR within a research project focused on Indigenous men’s masculinity and mental health. In doing so, we aim to contribute to reflexive practice in CBPR and flatten research hierarchies to facilitate more equitable knowledge sharing. Our reflections highlight the importance of prioritizing healing, centering cultural protocols, negotiating language, and creating space for Indigenous research partners to lead. These critical lessons challenge Western researchers to ground their practices in Indigenous culture while they “sit outside the circle” to facilitate more equitable and engaged partnerships.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Calva ◽  
Rebecca A. Matthew ◽  
Pamela Orpinas

The value of community assessments depends on the researchers’ ability to reach a diverse and representative sample of participants. This process is particularly challenging when assessing the health and well-being of vulnerable populations that are reticent to participate in research because of demographic and sociopolitical factors. One such group is Latinxs (the gender-neutral version of Latinos or Latinas) of mixed immigration status who live in low-income, socially and geographically isolated enclaves in the Southeast. Framed by community-based participatory research and social marketing theories, this study describes practical strategies for health researchers, practitioners, and advocates seeking to engage and build trusting relationship within U.S. Latinx communities. First, identify and leverage points of entry to different segments of the communities of interest by engaging meaningful gatekeepers from different sections of the population and searching for places where potential participants gather. Second, reduce the burden of assessments by using incentives and creating intentional reciprocity. Third, establish critical, long-lasting trust with community members, leaders, and allies by adapting data collection procedures, ensuring confidentiality, engaging bilingual facilitators, and most important, being present with and for the community. Finally, presenting the findings back to the community can increase the ownership of the process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabra L Katz-Wise ◽  
Annie Pullen Sansfaçon ◽  
Laura M Bogart ◽  
Milagros C Rosal ◽  
Diane Ehrensaft ◽  
...  

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) involves community members collaborating with academic investigators in each step of the research process. CBPR may be especially useful for research involving marginalized populations with unique perspectives and needs. In this paper, we discuss successes and challenges of using a CBPR approach for the Trans Teen and Family Narratives Project, a longitudinal mixed-methods study to examine how the family environment affects the health and well-being of transgender and gender nonconforming youth. We describe considerations for using a CBPR approach with this population, including defining the community of transgender and gender nonconforming youth and families, engaging the community in the research process, managing conflicting agendas for community partner meetings, addressing insider/outsider status of the researchers, resolving researcher/community tensions regarding data collection tools, integrating academic and community members into a cohesive research team, developing safety plans to address participant suicidality disclosures, and differentiating the role of academics as researchers vs. advocates. We conclude by sharing lessons learned, which can inform future research to address the needs of transgender and gender nonconforming youth and families.


ISRN Nursing ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Vukic ◽  
Charlotte Jesty ◽  
Sr. Veronica Mathews ◽  
Josephine Etowa

Purpose. Indigenous Peoples are underrepresented in the health professions. This paper examines indigenous identity and the quality and nature of nursing work-life. The knowledge generated should enhance strategies to increase representation of indigenous peoples in nursing to reduce health inequities. Design. Community-based participatory research employing Grounded Theory as the method was the design for this study. Theoretical sampling and constant comparison guided the data collection and analysis, and a number of validation strategies including member checks were employed to ensure rigor of the research process. Sample. Twenty-two Aboriginal nurses in Atlantic Canada. Findings. Six major themes emerged from the study: Cultural Context of Work-life, Becoming a Nurse, Navigating Nursing, Race Racism and Nursing, Socio-Political Context of Aboriginal Nursing, and Way Forward. Race and racism in nursing and related subthemes are the focus of this paper. Implications. The experiences of Aboriginal nurses as described in this paper illuminate the need to understand the interplay of race and racism in the health care system. Our paper concludes with Aboriginal nurses’ suggestions for systemic change at various levels.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Wilson ◽  
A Kenny ◽  
V Dickson-Swift

Abstract Background Political, economic and climate events continue to bring the dismantling of communities and creation of new ones. Understanding successful models of adaptation and working with communities to address their health and wellbeing needs requires ethically sound public health research. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has been proposed as an equitable, empowering partnership approach to collaborative health research that encapsulates analysis, advocacy and action for the future wellbeing of communities. Meanwhile, a strong interest in ethical implications of CBPR continues in international literature, yet with a notable lack of research that captures the experience of researchers who had ethical challenges in their CBPR studies. The aim of this research was to address this lack of evidence by exploring those experiences of CBPR researchers internationally. Methods An innovative data collection method was designed utilising a purpose-built blog. This internet-based, qualitative online study enabled asynchronous international data collection on the blog. Participants were researchers with experience of CBPR and were recruited through social media platforms. Blog narratives of first-hand experiences of CBPR researchers were analysed using thematic analysis. Results The themes that emerged from blog data analysis were researchers' challenges with balancing participant protection and autonomy, dealing with partnership tensions, and the enduring impacts on the researchers. Conclusions This study enhances our understanding of ethical challenges in CBPR with evidence of enduring impacts on researchers of the 'tightrope' they walked in the interests of maintaining research integrity and ethical responsibility towards their partnering communities. Challenges arose largely from complexities of CBPR coupled with rigid regulatory structures of human research ethics review that struggles to respond adequately in the interests of communities and researchers. Key messages At this critical time for the future of humanity, communities can benefit from CBPR. A positive way forward for ethical review of CBPR exists for those with power to make a difference.


2021 ◽  
pp. 152483992110199
Author(s):  
Sarah Fountain ◽  
Rachel Hale ◽  
Nicola Spencer ◽  
Jinger Morgan ◽  
Laura James ◽  
...  

Introduction Photovoice is a method used in community-based participatory research that places cameras in the hands of people and invites them to record their lives, engage in critical dialogue, and advocate for changes needed in their communities. This article presents a review of the literature from 2010 to 2019 on photovoice projects implemented with U.S. youth informed by an emancipatory research conceptual framework. Method Information on 30 project elements was extracted from each of the 47 publications, representing 39 unique projects that met our inclusion criteria. Projects were also assessed for whether they met the goals of photovoice as originally conceptualized by Wang and Burris in 1997. Results Participants, policy makers, and community members were affected by photovoice projects. Outcomes ranged from researcher specific needs to community change and policy awareness and changes. Common outcomes included (1) gaining knowledge, (2) participant empowerment, (3) community change/action, (4) new partnerships, and (5) reaching policy makers. Of the 39 unique projects, 17 addressed all three photovoice goals, 12 addressed two, and 10 addressed only one. All the projects met the goal of enabling participants to record and reflect their community’s strengths and concerns. Twenty-four were aligned with all three principles of emancipatory research. Discussion Photovoice is a valuable, flexible tool that can enable participants to play an active, guiding role in assessing the needs and assets of their community. Through critical reflection and dialogue, youth can become change agents in their communities. No single set of strategies will work best for every project.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110293
Author(s):  
Laura A. Chubb ◽  
Christa B. Fouché ◽  
Karen Sadeh Kengah

The call to decolonise research processes and knowledge produced through them has spawned a powerful shift in working relationships between community researchers and members of local communities. Adaptation of a traditional conversational space in a community-based participatory research study offers a context-specific example of a decolonising method for data collection and as pathways for change. This article reports on learnings encountered while adapting the space and highlights the relevance for other cultural contexts. We present principles to adapt traditional conversational spaces both for collecting data and as a means of working in partnership with indigenous communities to enable different ways of knowing and action.


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