Degree of community participation across time and place: A case study

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a dynamic process where community and academic partners work together to improve the health of community members. While the CBPR literature outlines principles that contribute to successful CBPR partnerships, less is known about whether the degree of the community partner's participation across various aspects of the research process contributes to the success of research projects (where success is defined as a meaningful process and outcomes).

In this paper, we describe a retrospective assessment of our experiences partnering with several community agencies to conduct CBPR health interventions that feature a promotora de salud (lay health educator) model. The purpose of our assessment was to understand whether the degree to which community partners participated in various aspects of the research process mattered and, if so, how their participation affected the success of the projects. Focus groups were conducted with the team of academic partners from our studies, including the project investigator and project managers, to assess how the degree of community participation varied across studies. A qualitative content analysis was completed to examine themes that emerged from the focus groups.

Results suggest that considering the level of community participation across various aspects of the research process is important to the success of CBPR projects. To illuminate our findings, we highlight the experience of working with one of our community partners for which the research process has been remarkably fluid and productive, as well as share lessons learned from partnering with various community partners across time and place.