A central tenet of health behavior and health communication research is the full engagement of communities, called community-based participatory research or CBPR.
CBPR at its best involves researchers working with community leaders to determine their health priorities, then collaborating with them to develop research questions of interest to both groups. Community leaders would also actively participate in data collection, etc., which helps ensure that the research methods are culturally sensitive and relevant. The result is research that communities are more likely to trust and benefit from and for which scientist have richer and more valuable data and results. A win-win-win-win (you get the idea) situation!!
Below is the abstract to an article in the American Journal of Public Health (and copied from the journal’s website) that discusses community-based participatory research and how and why it can be used as the basis for policy advocacy aimed at improving health disparities (as an example).
Community-Based Participatory Research: A Capacity-Building Approach for Policy Advocacy Aimed at Eliminating Health Disparities
Barbara A. Israel, DrPH, Chris M. Coombe, PhD, Rebecca R. Cheezum, MPH,Amy J. Schulz, PhD, Robert J. McGranaghan, MPH,Richard Lichtenstein, PhD, Angela G. Reyes, MPH, Jaye Clement, MPH, MPPand Akosua Burris, BA
Barbara A. Israel, Chris M. Coombe, Rebecca R. Cheezum, Amy J. Schulz, and Robert J. McGranaghan are with the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Richard Lichtenstein is with the Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Angela G. Reyes is with the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Detroit, MI. Jaye Clement is with Allegiance Health, Jackson, MI. Akosua Burris is with the Henry Ford Academy School for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI.
There have been increasing calls for community–academic partnerships to enhance the capacity of partners to engage in policy advocacy aimed at eliminating health disparities. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a partnership approach that can facilitate capacity building and policy change through equitable engagement of diverse partners. Toward this end, the Detroit Community–Academic Urban Research Center, a long-standing CBPR partnership, has conducted a policy training project. We describe CBPR and its relevance to health disparities; the interface between CBPR, policy advocacy, and health disparities; the rationale for capacity building to foster policy advocacy; and the process and outcomes of our policy advocacy training. We discuss lessons learned and implications for CBPR and policy advocacy to eliminate health disparities.
