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ICR Abstracts: 6.1
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Helena
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Jan 25, 2008 11:58 PST
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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 (6.1: January 25, 2008)
1. Brown, D. R., A. Hernandez, et al. (2008). A Participatory Action
Research Pilot Study of Urban Health Disparities Using Rapid Assessment
Response and Evaluation. _American Journal of Public Health_, 98(1),
28-38.
Healthy People 2010 made it a priority to eliminate health disparities.
We used a rapid assessment response and evaluation (RARE) to launch a
program of participatory action research focused on health disparities
in an urban, disadvantaged Black community serviced by a major south
Florida health center. We formed partnerships with community members,
identified local health disparities, and guided interventions targeting
health disparities. We describe the RARE structure used to triangulate
data sources and guide intervention plans as well as findings and
conclusions drawn from scientific literature and epidemiological,
historic, planning, clinical, and ethnographic data. Disenfranchisement
and socioeconomic deprivation emerged as the principal determinants of
local health disparities and the most appropriate targets for
intervention.
2. Carter, J. and G. Hill. (2007). Indigenous community-based fisheries
in Australia. _Journal of Environmental Management_, 85(4), 866-75.
The commercial sea cucumber species known as Sandfish (Holothuria
scabra) occurs intertidally and subtidally in the Northern Territory of
Australia, on or adjacent to Aboriginal land. A 4-yr program of
community-based fisheries research with Aboriginal Australians was
implemented to assess the viability of indigenous Australians'
involvement in the wild-stock fishery. The research involved extensive
and intensive indigenous participation, unusual in Australian
biophysical sciences research, during field survey and habitat mapping,
complemented by commercial catch data modelling and discussion of its
implications. Field surveys produced Sandfish distribution and
site-specific density, and revealed some areas that were not
commercially fished. Catch data modelling results suggested that no
additional effort could be sustained, however commercial fishers
increased their effort, expanding their operations into the newly mapped
areas. These actions effectively precluded indigenous peoples'
aspirations of entry into the commercial fishery. The efficacy and
outcomes of participatory program design with indigenous Australians
need critique in the absence of the political will and statutory backing
to provide equitable access to resources.
3. Cochran, P. A. L., C. A. Marshall, et al. (2008). Indigenous Ways of
Knowing: Implications for Participatory Research and Community.
_American Journal of Public Health_, 98(1), 22-27.
Researchers have a responsibility to cause no harm, but research has
been a source of distress for indigenous people because of inappropriate
methods and practices. The way researchers acquire knowledge in
indigenous communities may be as critical for eliminating health
disparities as the actual knowledge that is gained about a particular
health problem. Researchers working with indigenous communities must
continue to resolve conflict between the values of the academic setting
and those of the community. It is important to consider the ways of
knowing that exist in indigenous communities when developing research
methods. Challenges to research partnerships include how to distribute
the benefits of the research findings when academic or external needs
contrast with the need to protect indigenous knowledge.
4. Darity, W. A., T. T. Chen, et al. (2006). A multi-city community
based smoking research intervention project in the African-American
population. _International Quarterly of Community Health Education_,
26(4), 323-336.
This article is reprinted from: Int'l. Quarterly of Community Health
Education, Vol. 17(2) 117-130, 1997-98 (see record 1998-02549-001).
Objective: To carry out a community-based research approach to determine
the most effective educational interventions to reduce smoking among
African-American smokers. The intervention included preparation of the
community, planning and developing a model of change, and developing a
community-based intervention. The study population consisted of 2,544
randomly selected adult African-American smokers residing in four sites
in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the United States. The
research design provided a comparison of active intervention sites with
passive control sites as well as low income and moderate income areas.
Major Outcome Measures: Point prevalence of non-smoking at the time of
interview; Period prevalence of non-smoking at the time of interview;
Period prevalence of quit attempts in the prior six months; Number of
smoke-free days in the prior six months; Number of cigarettes smoked
daily at the time of interview. Results: Based upon a survey eighteen
months after baseline data was collected, all four measures of cigarette
smoking behavior showed a strong statistically significant reduction of
personal smoking behavior among those receiving active interventions
versus the passive group. On the basis of process variable analysis,
direct contact with the project staff in the prior six months was
significantly higher in the active intervention areas. There was only a
small non-significant increase in personal smoking behavior in moderate
income groups as opposed to low income groups. Conclusion: An analysis
of process variables strongly suggests that, within this
African-American Community, "hands on" or "face to face" approaches
along with mass media, mailings, and other less personal approaches were
more effective in reducing personal smoking behavior than media,
mailings, and other impersonal approaches alone addressed to large
audiences.
5. Englberger, L., A. Lorens, et al. (2005). An NGO approach for
addressing the nutrition dilemma: Pohnpei focuses on awareness, food
analysis, conservation, and food processing. _Pacific Health Dialog:
Journal of Community Health and Clinical Medicine for the Pacific_,
12(2), 79-84.
The establishment of the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, a
non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Pohnpei, Federated States
of Micronesia, presents a new approach for promoting Pacific Island food
for its health and many other benefits. Its vision is holistic,
stressing the importance of island food for sustainable development,
economic benefits, self-reliance, improved health, cultural
preservation, and human dignity, at the same time protecting the natural
resources. A major reason for the establishment of this NGO is the
emergence of an epidemic of nutrition-related health problems, including
diabetes, heart disease, cancer, vitamin A deficiency, and anemia.
Although health is at the cornerstone of the establishment of this NGO
and health officers are integrally involved, the project is closely
associated with the agriculture sector. The Island Food Community of
Pohnpei works via an ethnographic participatory inter-agency approach,
and its activities include the identification and promotion of
nutrient-rich varieties of the traditional staple foods, incorporating
the 'Yellow Varieties Message'. There are also activities to conserve
rare varieties and to develop small-scale food processing.
Full text available online:
http://www.spc.int/phs/pphsn/Publications/PHDSurveillance/Surveillance-pages79-84.pdf
6. Flicker, S. and A. Guta. (2008). Ethical approaches to adolescent
participation in sexual health research. _Journal of Adolescent Health_,
42(1), 3-10.
PURPOSE: In this paper we make the case for the importance of adolescent
sexual health research, and argue that requiring parental consent for
adolescent participation may (a) be unwarranted, (b) be inconsistent
with the principles of justice and inclusiveness, (c) be confusing, and
(d) serve to silence young people who most need to have a voice in
sexual health research. METHODS: Through a case study of the Toronto
Teen Survey, we offer concrete suggestions and alternatives for
protecting adolescent health research participants in community-based
settings and promoting ethical research approaches. RESULTS: Strategies
suggested include: (1) adopting a community-based participatory research
approach, (2) careful attention to youth-friendly protocols and consent
procedures, (3) proper training of all research staff and peer
researchers, (4) partnering with experienced community based
youth-serving agencies, (5) paying maximum attention to issues of
confidentiality and anonymity, and (6) valuing participation
appropriately. CONCLUSIONS: Institutional review boards and researchers
should be encouraged to adopt localized context-dependent strategies
that attend to the unique vulnerabilities of their particular study
populations. Attention to flexibility, vulnerability, and
community-specific needs is necessary to ensure appropriate ethical
research practices that attend to the health and well-being of young
people.
Full text available online:
http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/1054-139X/PIIS1054139X07003370.pdf
7. Gao, M. Y. and S. Wang. (2007). Participatory communication and
HIV/AIDS prevention in a Chinese marginalized (MSM) population. _AIDS
Care_, 19(6), 799-810.
HIV/AIDS in China has entered a critical stage of rapid and widespread
increase. It has been estimated that more than one million people in
China have been infected with HIV and the rate of increase tops the
world. The number could swell to 10 million by 2010 if more intense and
effective preventive measures are not adopted immediately. Sex between
men has been a mostly 'hidden' source of the spread of HIV in China.
Homosexuality is no longer a criminal act in China, however, traditional
'official-led' so-called peer education programmes among men who have
sex with men (MSM) have little effect in adopting and diffusing a key
message to their networks. This is because the climate in HIV prevention
through community-based advocacy among MSM has not been substantially
changed which is due to these men still facing strong opposition and
resistance from society, as a quite marginalized population in China.
This study carried out in Chengdu is the first to explore how to use a
socially and culturally appropriate participatory communication to
promote safer sex behaviour with gay men and MSM in Chengdu, China. The
study examined effectiveness of peer-led health message diffusion in
promoting condom use through a participatory communication approach
among these men in the programme. Key findings showed that the
peer-based participatory communication strategy was effective for
encouraging condom use with casual sexual partners in the intervention
group. There was no significant change in the comparison group. It
indicates that participatory involvement is the major driving force for
HIV-related safer sex behaviour change and can be recommended to promote
safer sex practice among gay men and MSM in their broad contexts.
8. Garwick, A. W., K. L. Rhodes, et al. (2008). Native teen voices:
adolescent pregnancy prevention recommendations. _Journal of Adolescent
Health_, 42(1), 81-8.
PURPOSE: American Indian adolescent pregnancy rates are high, yet little
is known about how Native youth view primary pregnancy prevention. The
aim was to identify pregnancy prevention strategies from the
perspectives of both male and female urban Native youth to inform
program development. METHODS: Native Teen Voices (NTV) was a
community-based participatory action research study in Minneapolis and
St. Paul, Minnesota. Twenty focus groups were held with 148 Native youth
who had never been involved in a pregnancy. Groups were stratified by
age (13-15 and 16-18 years) and sex. Participants were asked what they
would do to prevent adolescent pregnancy if they were in charge of
programs for Native youth. Content analyses were used to identify and
categorize the range and types of participants' recommendations within
and across the age and sex cohorts. RESULTS: Participants in all cohorts
emphasized the following themes: show the consequences of adolescent
pregnancy; enhance and develop more pregnancy prevention programs for
Native youth in schools and community-based organizations; improve
access to contraceptives; discuss teen pregnancy with Native youth; and
use key messages and media to reach Native youth. CONCLUSIONS: Native
youth perceived limited access to comprehensive pregnancy prevention
education, community-based programs and contraceptives. They suggested a
variety of venues and mechanisms to address gaps in sexual health
services and emphasized enhancing school-based resources and involving
knowledgeable Native peers and elders in school and community-based
adolescent pregnancy prevention initiatives. A few recommendations
varied by age and sex, consistent with differences in cognitive and
emotional development.
9. Glass, K. C. and J. Kaufert. (2007). Research ethics review and
Aboriginal community values: Can the two be reconciled? _Journal of
Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics_, 2(2), 25-40.
Contemporary Research Ethics Review Committees (RECs) are heavily
influenced by the established academic or health care institutional
frameworks in which they operate, sharing a cultural, methodological and
ethical perspective on the conduct of research involving humans. The
principle of autonomous choice carries great weight in what is a highly
individualistic decision-making process in medical practice and
research. This assumes that the best protection lies in the ability of
patients or research participants to make competent, voluntary, informed
choices, evaluating the risks and benefits from a personal perspective.
Over the past two decades, North American and international indigenous
researchers, policy makers and communities have identified key issues of
relevance to them, but ignored by most institutional or university-based
RECs. They critique the current research review structure, and propose
changes on a variety of levels in an attempt to develop more community
sensitive research ethics review processes. In doing so, they have
emphasized recognition of collective rights including community consent.
Critics see alternative policy guidelines and community-based review
bodies as challenging the current system of ethics review. Some view
them as reflecting a fundamental difference in values. In this paper, we
explore these developments in the context of the political, legal and
ethical frameworks that have informed REC review. We examine the process
and content of these frameworks and ask how this contrasts with emerging
Aboriginal proposals for community-based research ethics review. We
follow this with recommendations on how current REC review models might
accommodate the requirements of both communities and RECs.
10. Gregg, J., R. Solotaroff, et al. (2008). Health and Disease in
Context: A Community-Based Social Medicine Curriculum. _Academic
Medicine_, 83(1), 14-19.
Despite the increasing attention paid to the role of social forces in
determining health, most physicians finish their training ill-prepared
to address these issues. The authors describe their efforts to fill that
training gap for internal medicine residents at Oregon Health and
Science University through a community-based social medicine curriculum,
designed in 2006 in conjunction with community partners at Central City
Concern (CCC), an organization addressing homelessness, poverty, and
addiction in downtown Portland, Oregon. The challenge was to develop a
curriculum that would (1) fit within the scheduling constraints of an
established categorical internal medicine residency program, (2) give
all internal medicine residents a chance to better understand how social
forces affect health, and (3) help show how they, as health
professionals, might intervene to improve health and health care. The
authors maintain that by developing this curriculum with community
partners-who took the lead in deciding what residents should learn about
their community and how they should learn it-the residency program is
providing a relatively brief but extremely rich opportunity for
residents to engage the personal, social, and health-related issues
experienced by clients served by CCC.The authors first provide a brief
overview of the curriculum and describe how the principles and practices
of community-based participatory research were used in its development.
They then discuss the challenges involved in teaching medical residents
about social determinants of health, how their academic-community
partnership approaches those challenges, and the recently established
methods of evaluating the curriculum.
11. Hallett, J., G. Brown, et al. (2007). Changing communities, changing
spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace.
_Promotion & Education_, 14(3), 150-4.
This article is a case study of an Internet chat room outreach project
in Perth, Western Australia. The CyberReach project sought to adapt
current peer based health promotion outreach, training and supervision
frameworks to an online outreach setting in a way that was effective and
supported by the online community. It targeted marginalised groups to
trial the provision of online mental and sexual health promotion
incorporating a participatory action research model into its development
and implementation. Three 6-week trial periods were conducted and
significant changes were made in response to changes in the online
environment and to improve sustainability and effectiveness of the
protocols. Four themes arose from CyberReach's experience: online group
processes are unique due to the creation of extensive personal networks
and occurrence of disclosure without face-to-face contact across
potentially large geographic barriers; flexibility is required to adapt
to technological changes and online community flux; enforcing boundaries
and delineating peer education from therapeutic support can be
challenging when only using text-based communication; and Internet
outreach can be time intensive with small returns in actual community
engagement and constant technological up-skilling of staff may be
required. Based on the project's experiences we offer the following
recommendations when planning similar Internet outreach strategies:
Funding and planning groups need to be aware that the Internet
environment is constantly changing and planning and funding arrangements
need to reflect a capacity to remain flexible; Programs need to be
firmly connected to the communities they are outreaching therefore a
peer-based education component is strongly encouraged; Careful
consideration should be taken regarding data collection so that the
environment and the individuals within are respected; Further research
needs to be conducted to understand the styles and approaches of
different online interactions, and the relative influence of technical
platforms, gender and age.
12. Harper, G. W., O. B. Jamil, et al. (2007). Collaborative
community-based research as activism: Giving voice and hope to lesbian,
gay, and bisexual youth. _Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy_,
11(3-4), 99-119.
Psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals who
work with lesbian, gay, and/or bisexual (LGB) youth are in an ideal
position to engage in activism aimed at improving societal conditions
for LGB youth and to assist them in their quest for compassion,
understanding, and basic human rights. In this paper, the authors
discuss ways in which psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental
health professionals can engage in LGB youth activism through
structural-level change efforts, with a specific focus on: (1) raising
awareness within the academy about the issues that confront LGB youth
and the need for activism, while also working to elevate the status of
LGB research within these academic institutions; (2) creating safe
settings in which LGB youth can be affirmed and validated when they
engage in self expression; and (3) improving the capacity of local
community organizations to advocate for LGB youth. The authors purport
that one way to affect structural-level factors is through the
development and execution of collaborative participatory research
projects that engage community members and community-based organizations
(CBOs) that serve LGB youth.
13. Kincheloe, J. L. and k. hayes, Eds. (2007). _Teaching city kids:
Understanding and appreciating them_. Counterpoints: Studies in the
postmodern theory of education. New York, NY, Peter Lang Publishing.
(from the cover) This book examines the maligned students who populate
urban schools and finds a talented group of resilient young people who
deserve the support of the larger society. The editors and authors
explore the ways such students are undermined, in the process developing
new ways of teaching based on an understanding and appreciation of them.
Contemporary political leaders have used the fear of the poor,
non-white, and immigrant "city kids" we study here to push racist and
class-biased social and educational agendas. This book challenges these
tactics, while laying out a pedagogy of respect and hope. (PsycINFO
Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).
14. Livingood, W. C., J. Goldhagen, et al. (2007). A community-centered
model of the academic health department and implications for assessment.
_Journal of Public Health Management & Practice_, 13(6), 662-9.
The academic health department, also referred to as the teaching health
department, is receiving increased attention as an organizational
structure to enhance public health workforce development. Traditionally,
academic institutions have been viewed by major funders, and reported in
the literature, to be the innovators of these partnerships, in part to
extend the academic institution's education role in the workplace.
However, the role of the local health department as innovator is
emerging with implications beyond workforce development. This report
illustrates how a local agency-initiated community-centered approach to
an academic health department enhances the core public health function
of assessment, a frequently underdeveloped function at the local level.
This agency-initiated, community-centered academic health department
model builds assessment capacity through a partnership that integrates
academic research and public health surveillance capacity to provide
comprehensive assessment, including community assessment,
community-based participatory research, data analysis, and program
evaluation. This organizational structure, focused on systems approaches
to building community capacity rather than focusing on disease
categories or high-risk populations, illustrates how a local health
department can substantially enhance its assessment capacity using
available resources.
15. Morrell, E. (2007). "Urban students as critical ethnographers:
Critical textual production through community-based research". _Teaching
city kids: Understanding and appreciating them_. J. L. Kincheloe and k.
hayes. New York, NY, Peter Lang Publishing: 267-279.
The ills of contemporary urban education have often been documented with
good reason. Educational attainment is a prerequisite for critical
citizenship and professional membership in the technical, global,
multicultural societies of the new century. Educational anthropologists
have played a leading role in documenting the disparities that have
plagued urban schools in the United States and have provided glimpses of
the possible. In this chapter, I move from discussions of ethnography as
a tool to understand urban education toward a concept of critical
ethnography as a process of pedagogy and textual production in the
service of academic achievement and urban school reform. I draw upon
data collected from a multi-year study that looks at the relationship
between participation of urban students as ethnographers in a
research-oriented community of practice, and academic literacy and
school reform. I begin with a basic set of questions concerning the
relationship between critical poststructuralist ethnography, academic
literacy, social praxis, and the discourse of educational research: (1)
How can a critical, poststructural ethnography serve as a pedagogic tool
in urban contexts? What sorts of cultural and textual production
accompany the positioning of urban students as ethnographers of urban
schools? (2) How can collaborative, community-centered praxis illuminate
the processes and potential of critical poststructural ethnography? (3)
How might critical, poststructural ethnography augment or even change
conversations within urban educational research? I begin this journey by
visiting the work of Denzin, and Kincheloe and McLaren to outline a
critical poststructuralist approach to ethnographic research. I argue in
this paper that this form of anthropological research can serve as a
tool for understanding urban contexts and as a curriculum for social
praxis. I then describe the work of the summer seminar and its approach
toward students as researchers for literacy achievement and school
reform. The data collection and analysis sections outline my focus on
the seminar as an activity system, and on a social theory of literacy
that views literacy as a set of social practices observable in events
that are mediated by written and digital texts. The analysis follows the
seminar students through several types of literacy practices most
closely associated with textual production. I focus on note taking,
electronic journaling, and the production of critical memoirs, research
papers, presentations, and iMovies. I conclude by considering the
importance of the process of critical poststructural ethnography and the
products of critical research for academic achievement, for educational
research and for urban school reform. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007
APA, all rights reserved).
16. Rankins, J., J. Wortham, et al. (2007). Modifying soul food for the
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet (DASH) plan: implications
for metabolic syndrome (DASH of Soul). _Ethnicity & Disease_, 17(3 Suppl
4), S4-7-12.
This article presents results of a community-based participatory study
(DASH of Soul) designed to produce soul food that meets the nutrient
criteria of the DASH diet plan. DASH of Soul was tested during a
10-month period with two sub-groups of low-income African American
women: (1) a focus group cooking club recruited from among "early
adopters" of a previous intervention; and (2) a broader peer group
dinner club recruited through a health center serving the neighborhood
of the focus group. Methods for the cooking club included 10 filmed
cooking labs to: (a) modify traditional soul food (MSF) to reduce food
energy, total fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium; (b) evaluate and
improve upon sensory acceptability; (c) integrate acceptable MSF into
the DASH diet plan (MS-DASH); (d) produce VHS- and DVD-formatted MS-DASH
cooking shows. Methods for the dinner club included monthly
participation in weekly promotional dinner meetings that featured the
cooking show and a different DASH food group each month for 8 months.
Based on computer software analysis, the nutrient composition of a
sample MS-DASH menu developed by the cooking club was consistent with
nutrient levels for the DASH diet plan. The authors concluded from the
focus group interviews and intercept surveys that, with continued
motivation, the potential is good for the study population to make
MS-DASH a lifestyle choice, reducing their risks for diet-related
diseases that cluster to comprise metabolic syndrome.
17. Reiner, M. and D. G. Petereit. (2008). Community-based Participatory
Research: Providers, Patient, and Community in Partnership to Improve
Health Disparities. _Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine_
21(1), 78-9.
18. Rust, G. and L. Cooper. (2008). Building a Bridge Between
Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Primary Care
Practice-based Research (PBR). _Journal of the American Board of Family
Medicine_ 21(1), 79-80.
19. Torres, M. and M. R. Weeks. (2006). Sexual health protection,
culture and community: Contributions of anthropology to community health
education approaches: An introduction. _International Quarterly of
Community Health Education_, 25(1-2), 165-168.
The articles in this issue represent diverse examples of community-based
research and intervention efforts undertaken by faculty and
practitioners from several disciplines on the subject of sexual decision
making and health education implications. Three themes run through this
collection: 1) the interface of health-education, culture and community;
2) the insufficiency of rational decision-making models for explaining
outcomes in heterogeneous communities; and 3) the value of qualitative
tools that build community research collaboration to document people's
experiences with sexual health protection. These three themes present a
challenge to find the best culturally constructed opportunities for
health education intervention to promote strategies of protection
against unplanned teen pregnancies, sexual violence, HIV, hepatitis B,
cervical cancer, and other sexually transmitted infections. As this
collection of articles suggests, our best tools currently at hand to
meet this challenge are transcultural frameworks, practice-driven
theories, and research capacity building. It seems appropriate that as
this century comes to an end, these tools be further developed by moving
away from categorical problem-oriented approaches to address the basic
skills required to transform sociocultural expectations and structures
in ways that minimize the impact--biological, social and economic--of
all negative sexual health outcomes for the community as a unit.
20. Tsey, K., A. Wilson, et al. (2007). Empowerment-based research
methods: a 10-year approach to enhancing Indigenous social and emotional
wellbeing. _Australasian Psychiatry_ 15 (Suppl 1), 34-8.
Objectives: This paper describes a research program that has
operationalized the links between empowerment at personal/family,
group/organizational and community/structural levels and successful
mechanisms to address Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing issues
such as family violence and abuse, suicide prevention and incarceration.
Methods: A two-pronged approach, involving the Family Wellbeing
Empowerment Program and Participatory Action Research, was used to
enhance the capacity of program participants and their communities to
take greater charge of issues affecting their health and wellbeing.
Results: Key program outcomes include an enhancement of participants'
sense of self worth, resilience, problem-solving ability, ability to
address immediate family difficulties as well as belief in the
mutability of the social environment. There is also evidence of
increasing capacity to address wider structural issues such as poor
school attendance rates, the critical housing shortage, endemic family
violence, alcohol and drug misuse, chronic disease, and
over-representation of Indigenous men in the criminal justice system.
Participants are also breaking new ground in areas such as values-based
Indigenous workforce development and organizational change, as well as
issues about contemporary Indigenous spirituality. Conclusions: The use
of a long-term (10-year) community research strategy focussing directly
on empowerment has demonstrated the power of this approach to facilitate
Indigenous people's capacity to regain social and emotional wellbeing
and begin to rebuild the social norms of their families and community.
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