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ICR Abstracts: 5.9
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Helena
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Sep 18, 2007 07:10 PDT
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Editor's note: The following articles have been selected because they
collectively deal with a variety of issues related to community-based
research (e.g., collaboration, ethics, methods) and they cover various
disciplines. If you have suggestions for articles/publications for
future postings, or other feedback in the
presentation, simply reply to this email. Thanks for joining!]
ICR Abstracts (5.9: September 19, 2007)
1. Bernier, J., M. Rock, et al. (2006). Structuring an inter-sector
research partnership: A negotiated zone. _Sozial-Und Praventivmedizin_,
51(6), 335-344.
Objectives: To document and analyze the initial steps in building a
health research partnership. To enable a greater appreciation of what
these processes entail and also to provide guidance in negotiating the
inevitable tensions between parties with different aims and objectives.
Methods: This case study is based on participant-observation and
document analysis. It employed three general analytic strategies:
developing a case description, relying on theoretical propositions and
thinking about rival explanations. Results: The development of a
research partnership framework entails a complex negotiation process
marked by tensions: one of representing the interests of the various
parties; and one establishing the basis for collaboration. Some factors
can facilitate these processes: acknowledging the specific interests and
organizational culture of the various organizations involved;
designating a mediator to develop a climate of trust; and mitigating the
inequalities among partners, in a process which requires considerable
efforts over a rather long period of time. Conclusion: The process of
structuring the relations among the associated partners does not end
with negotiating a partnership accord. Denying this would be tantamount
to denying the political nature of a research partnership, and denying
those involved any autonomy in future research projects.
2. Borsheim, C. and R. Petrone. (2006). Teaching the Research Paper for
Local Action. _English Journal_, 95(4), 78-83.
This article describes a unit of research paper that focused on social
action at the local level. The first lesson of the unit served several
purposes. Firstly, it helped encourage positive dispositions toward the
research unit by embedding the works of students in daily context and
engaging them in an authentic process of inquiry and research. Secondly,
this lesson began the process of generating school- and community-based
research topics. Finally, this lesson started the process of the
students' viewing and reading of their school and community as texts.
3. Campbell, C., Y. Nair, et al. (2007). Building contexts that support
effective community responses to HIV/AIDS: A South African case study.
_American Journal of Community Psychology_, 39(3), 347-363.
In this paper we discuss our conceptualisation of a ‘health-enabling
social environment’, and some of the strategies we are currently using
to build social contexts most likely to support effective HIV/AIDS
management in southern Africa. In developing these ideas, we draw on our
on-going collaboration with residents of Entabeni, a remote rural
community in South Africa where 43% of pregnant women are HIV positive.
The aim of this collaboration is to facilitate contextual changes that
will enable more effective community-led HIV/AIDS management in an
isolated area where people have little or no access to formal health or
welfare support, and where HIV/AIDS is heavily stigmatised. We give an
account of the three phases of collaboration to date. These include
research; the dissemination of findings and community consultation about
the way forward; preliminary project activities (skills training for
volunteer health workers; partnership building and a youth rally) as a
way of illustrating what we believe are six key strategies for
facilitating the development of ‘AIDS-competent’ communities: building
knowledge and basic skills; creating social spaces for dialogue and
critical thinking; promoting a sense of local ownership of the problem
and incentives for action; emphasising community strengths and
resources; mobilising existing formal and informal local networks; and
building partnerships between marginalized communities and more powerful
outside actors and agencies, locally, nationally and internationally. We
discuss some of the triumphs and trials of this work, concluding with a
discussion of the need to set realistic goals when working at the
community level in highly conservative patriarchal communities to tackle
problems which may be shaped by economic and political processes over
which local people have little control.
4. Farmer, D. F., S. A. Jackson, et al. (2007). Attitudes of African
American and low socioeconomic status white women toward medical
research. _Journal of Health Care for the Poor & Underserved_, 18(1),
85-99.
Minority and low socioeconomic status women are under-represented in
clinical research due to logistical, informational, attitudinal, and
sociocultural barriers. The primary objective of this study was to
explore factors associated with research participation among African
American and low socioeconomic status White women using the Theory of
Planned Behavior. A secondary goal was to assess differences in barriers
to research participation by age and race. A combination of qualitative
(focus groups) and quantitative (trust scale) methodologies was
employed. Ten focus groups were held, organized by age and race. Content
analysis revealed three predominant themes: fear, distrust, and hope.
Older women had higher trust; there was no difference in trust by race.
The results suggest that women have conflicting feelings about research
that cross ethnic lines and should be addressed by researchers.
Effective strategies for overcoming barriers and increasing
representation are those that establish ongoing relationships with
relevant communities.
5. Glasgow, R. E. and K. M. Emmons. (2007). How Can We Increase
Translation of Research into Practice? Types of Evidence Needed. _Annual
Review of Public Health_ 28(1), 413-433.
This review summarizes key factors that have interfered with translation
of research to practice and what public health researchers can do to
hasten such transfer, focusing on characteristics of interventions,
target settings, and research designs. The need to address context and
to utilize research, review, and reporting practices that address
external validity issues--such as designs that focus on replication, and
practical clinical and behavioral trials--are emphasized. Although there
has been increased emphasis on social-ecological interventions that go
beyond the individual level, interventions often address each component
as if it were an independent intervention. Greater attention is needed
to connectedness across program levels and components. Finally, examples
are provided of evaluation models and current programs that can help
accelerate translation of research to practice and policy.
6. Javier, J. R., L. C. Huffman, et al. (2007). Filipino child health in
the United States: Do health and health care disparities exist?
_Preventing Chronic Disease_, 4(2), A36.
INTRODUCTION: Filipinos are the second largest Asian subgroup in the
United States, but few studies have examined health and health care
disparities in Filipino children. The objectives of this review are 1)
to appraise current knowledge of Filipino children's health and health
care and 2) to present the implications of these findings for research,
clinical care, and policy. METHODS: We identified articles for review
primarily via a Medline search emphasizing the terms Filipino and United
States crossed with specific topics in child and adolescent health that
fall under one of Healthy People 2010's 28 focus areas. RESULTS:
Filipino children are underrepresented in medical research. Studies that
compare Filipino children and adolescents with white children or
children of other Asian Pacific Islander subgroups suggest disparities
with regard to gestational diabetes, rates of neonatal mortality and low
birth weight, malnutrition in young children, overweight, physical
inactivity and fitness, tuberculosis, dental caries, and substance
abuse. Studies that compare Filipino adults with white adults describe
adult Filipino health problems similar to those of Filipino children,
including higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic
syndrome. Health care disparities remain to be determined. CONCLUSION:
Health and health care disparities appear to exist for Filipino
children, but more research is needed to confirm these findings.
Practitioners serving this population need to consider social and
cultural factors that can increase or diminish risk for health problems.
There are priorities in research and policy that, if pursued, may
improve the health care and health outcomes of Filipino children.
7. McAllister, C. L. and T. Thomas. (2007). Infant mental health and
family support: Contributions of Early Head Start to an integrated model
for community-based early childhood programs. _Infant Mental Health
Journal_, 28(2), 192-215.
This paper analyzes the experiences of an Early Head Start (EHS) program
in adopting and implementing an infant mental health (IMH) approach in
its work with community families. Through qualitative methods
(participant observation, qualitative interviews, and case studies), we
examined the strategies used, and the challenges encountered, by program
staff as they applied IMH principles in their home-visiting
interventions with families whose lives involve significant economic,
social, and psychological stressors. Our study identified four elements
crucial to an effective IMH initiative: (1) teamwork, especially the use
of transdisciplinary teams to review family cases, (2) reflective
supervision, (3) development of an integrated and empathic understanding
of the child's needs and the parent's challenges in meeting those needs,
and (4) a dynamic ecological understanding of children, families, and
communities in which psychosocial and socioeconomic factors are viewed
as mutually important and interactive. We argue that each of these
elements both builds on and enhances long-standing dimensions of this
EHS program's family support approach, creating an innovative and
integrated model of IMH and family support that could prove of value in
many community-based programs serving children and families whose
emotional health is affected by everyday experiences of economic and
social inequality.
8. McKay, M. M., R. Hibbert, et al. (2007). Creating Mechanisms for
Meaningful Collaboration Between Members of Urban Communities and
University-Based HIV Prevention Researchers. _Social Work in Mental
Health_, 5(1-2), 147-168.
This article provides a description of a Community/University
Collaborative Board, a formalized partnership between representatives
from an inner-city community and university-based researchers. This
Collaborative Board oversees a number of research projects focused on
designing, delivering and testing family-based HIV prevention and mental
health focused programs to elementary and junior high school age youth
and their families. The Collaborative Board consists of urban parents,
school staff members, representatives from community-based agencies and
university-based researchers. One research project, the CHAMP
(Collaborative HIV prevention and Adolescent Mental health Project)
Family Program Study, an urban, family-based HIV prevention project will
be used to illustrate how the Collaborative Board oversees a
community-based research study. The process of establishing a
Collaborative Board, recruiting members and developing subcommittees is
described within this article. Examples of specific issues addressed by
the Collaborative Board within its subcommittees, Implementation,
Finance, Welcome, Research, Grant writing, Curriculum, and Leadership,
are detailed in this article along with lessons learned.
9. Meyer, I. H. and M. E. Northridge, Eds. (2007). _The health of sexual
minorities: Public health perspectives on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender populations_. New York, NY, Springer Science & Business
Media.
(from the cover) This resource offers a multidimensional picture of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) health across clinical and
social disciplines to give readers a full and nuanced understanding of
these diverse populations. Here are real-world matters of definition and
self-definition (including sexual identity, gender identity and
anti-identity), meticulous analyses of stressor and health outcomes, an
extensive coverage of research methodology concerns and critical
insights into the sociopolitical context of LGBT individuals' health and
lives. The Health of Sexual Minorities is written for social and
behavioral scientists and students in public health and health-related
fields, public health professionals and health practitioners (including
physicians and nurses, social workers, therapists and counselors)
interested in the health of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender
people. With over 50 contributions from the field, the book encourages
clear thinking, informed practice and effective, progressive policy for
improved health and well-being of LGBT individuals and communities.
10. Nichter, M. (2006). Anthropology and Global Health: Reflections of a
Scholar-Activist. _India Review_, 5(3/4), 343-371.
The article discusses the author's experience in his attempts to
introduce medical anthropology to both local communities and communities
of medicine/public health practitioners in developing countries. He
describes some of his community-based research activities as well as
highlights a set of principles that guided both his research and
interactions with research subjects and partners.
11. Northridge, M. E., B. P. McGrath, et al. (2007). "Using
community-based participatory research to understand and eliminate
social disparities in health for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
populations". _The health of sexual minorities: Public health
perspectives on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations_. I.
H. Meyer and M. E. Northridge. New York, NY, Springer Science & Business
Media: 455-470.
(from the chapter) We begin with a brief history of participatory
research and why we believe it has the potential to contribute
meaningfully to the scientific basis for both understanding and
eliminating social disparities in health for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) populations. Second, we draw apt examples from the
peer-reviewed public health literature of studies that have explicitly
used participatory research to understand and/or address social
disparities in health for LGBT communities. Third, we present a
conceptual framework entitled Social Determinants of LGBT Health to
trace pathways whereby factors at various levels [e.g., heterosexism,
workplace policies, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening] may
lead to inequalities in health and well-being for LGBT individuals and
communities. In doing so, we include examples drawn from our own
participatory research, practice, and education initiatives that were
explicitly designed to intervene to eliminate social disparities in
health for LGBT populations. In closing, we emphasize the importance of
extracting the core issues from the context in which they are researched
and practiced to derive best principles and best processes that may be
transferable to other settings (Green, 2001; Sclar et al., 2005). This
is essential if public health research and practice in LGBT populations
is to benefit from the seminal participatory work conducted in other
politically and socially oppressed communities.
12. Paulson, J. A. (2006). An exploration of ethical issues in research
in children's health and the environment. _Environmental Health
Perspectives_, 114(10), 1603-1608.
The consideration of ethical issues relating to pediatric environmental
health is a recent phenomenon. Discussions of biomedical ethics,
research on children, and environmental health research have a longer
history. In the late 1990s, researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute
in Baltimore, Maryland, undertook a study to compare the effectiveness
of several methods of reducing lead risk in housing. In a preliminary
finding in the case of Grimes v. Kennedy Krieger Institute, Inc., a
Maryland court questioned the ethics of performing research on children
when there is no prospect of direct benefit to those children and
whether parents can consent to such research. This case dramatically
raised the profile of ethical issues among the pediatric environmental
health research community. To broaden the discussion of these issues and
in response to the Kennedy-Krieger case, the Children's Environmental
Health Network held a working meeting on 5 and 6 March 2004 to explore
this topic. The articles in this mini-monograph were prepared by the
authors as a result of the workshop and represent their opinions. This
article is an introduction to the workshop and a summary of the articles
to follow.
13. Ramirez-Valles, J. (2007). The Quest for Effective HIV-Prevention
Interventions for Latino Gay Men. _American Journal of Preventive
Medicine_, 32(4 SUPPL.), 34-35.
14. Sabir, M., R. Breckman, et al. (2006). The CITRA Research-Practice
Consensus-Workshop Model: Exploring a New Method of Research Translation
in Aging. _The Gerontologist_, 46(6), 833-839.
Purpose: On the basis of the experience of an extensive community-based
research partnership in New York City, we developed an innovative
process for bridging the gap between aging-related research and
practice, using a consensus-workshop model. Design and Methods: We
adapted the traditional scientific consensus-workshop model to include
translation of the research into nontechnical language and the
involvement of practitioners in the process. We then applied the model
to the specific issue of falls prevention among community-dwelling older
adults. Results: The dialogue and interaction among researchers and
practitioners provided new insights beyond a traditional research
review. Practitioners offered astute guidance for future research based
on their day-to-day field experience. Implications: The recommendations
that emerged from the workshop demonstrated the value of close
interaction between the aging-related research and practice communities.
The consensus-conference model has significant potential to establish a
bridge between the worlds of research and practice in a variety of
settings.
15. Sampselle, C. M. (2007). Nickel-and-dimed in America: Underserved,
understudied, and underestimated. _Family & Community Health_, 30(1
Suppl S), S4-S14.
This article examines circumstances in the contemporary United States
that increase health disparities. Minority women are particularly
vulnerable because of environmental stress. Furthermore, absent or
inadequate healthcare coverage deters the use of preventive healthcare
practices. Organizing themes are as follows: underserved, which
describes factors that contribute to health disparities and examines the
consequences, particularly for underserved minority groups;
understudied, which examines potentially fruitful, but as yet
insufficiently investigated, avenues of research needed to better
understand the basis for health disparities; and underestimated, which
argues that without trusting researcher-community partnerships,
interventions to address health disparities will be flawed and
ineffective.
16. Sapienza, J. N., G. Corbie-Smith, et al. (2007). Community
engagement in epidemiological research. _Ambulatory Pediatrics_, 7(3),
247-252.
Objective: Engaging communities has become a critical aspect of planning
and implementing health research. The role community engagement should
play in epidemiological and observational research remains unclear since
much of this research is not directly generated by community concerns
and is not interventional in nature. The National Children's Study
(NCS), an observational longitudinal study of 100,000 children and their
families, provides a model to help guide the development of community
engagement strategies in epidemiologic research.
17. Schell, L. M., J. Ravenscroft, et al. (2007). Advancing biocultural
models by working with communities: A partnership approach. _American
Journal of Human Biology_, 19(4), 511-524.
Culture and human behavior are recognized today as major forces acting
on human biological variation around the world. Studies of the
relationships between biology and processes, such as modernization,
urbanization, and social stratification, are prominent in our journals
and meetings. An ongoing study of the interrelationships between
toxicant exposure (organochlorines, lead, and mercury), health, and
culture among youth of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne is located within
this context and is used to analyze the strengths and challenges of a
partnership approach to biocultural research. To assist in modeling the
complex relationships between health, behavior, and culture, we have
employed concepts from contemporary social theory, integrated
qualitative and quantitative research, and implemented community-based
research principles to develop a partnership approach to research in
human biology. The community is directly involved in identifying
research goals, developing research protocols appropriate for local
cultural sensitivities and complexities, implementing the protocols in
the field, and collaborating in the analysis and publication of results.
We show the utility of this approach for understanding the relationships
of toxicants to behavior and biological outcomes (adolescent growth,
sexual maturation, and endocrine system alteration); as well as how it
facilitates the agency of participants and communities involved in
research, and brings greater social engagement to the development of the
new human biology.
18. Shore, N. (2007). Community-based participatory research and the
ethics review process. _Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research
Ethics_, 2(1), 31-41.
This exploratory study examines the experiences of community-based
participatory researchers' (CBPR) with the IRB. CBPR is oftentimes
applied to non-clinical questions where academic researchers collaborate
with community partners to address local concerns. Constant Comparative
Method guided the analysis of ten CBPR interviews. The interview
questions included: How does your conceptualization of research coincide
with the regulations' definition? How are community partners involved in
the IRB process? What are the benefits/challenges of the IRB process?
And, what recommendations do you have to strengthen the IRB process? The
article concludes with suggestions for IRB reviewers and CBPR partners
on how to facilitate the review of CBPR projects.
19. Tucker, P. and A. M. Navarro. (2007). Real-World Challenges of
Promoting Community Health. _Preventing Chronic Disease_ 4(3), 2.
Full text available online:
http://www.cdc.gov/Pcd/issues/2007/jul/pdf/07_0010.pdf
20. Wilcox, S., M. Laken, et al. (2007). The Health-e-AME Faith-Based
Physical Activity Initiative: Description and Baseline Findings. _Health
Promotion Practice_, 8(1), 69-78.
This article provides an overview of the development, implementation,
and baseline findings from a statewide faith-based physical activity
(PA) initiative. The 3-year program is training African Methodist
Episcopal volunteers across South Carolina to implement programs to
increase PA in their congregations. To date, 98 churches have been
trained. Interviews done with a random sample (n = 39) indicated that
54% are implementing at least one PA program. The baseline telephone
survey (N = 571) estimates that 27.8% of the population is regularly
active, 54.9% underactive, and 17.3% sedentary. Baseline rates of
regular PA were higher in those who were younger, healthier, and
nonsmokers. Challenges to date have included obtaining rosters and
implementing a large-scale program with limited resources. Interest in
the program has been strong and supported by church leaders. Current
efforts are on training additional churches and working with those
already trained to support sustainability.
Helena Hilario
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