Objective: To describe the role of facilitators engaging Communities of Color in the dialogue process.
Methods: Facilitators were used to engage the African American and Latino community partners in the dialogue process in making policy recommendations on issues related to genetic technologies. To ensure that the community partners were comfortable expressing their views and opinions, the facilitator’s ethnicity matched that of the dialogue group that they facilitated.
Results: The facilitator was there to serve as a vehicle for effectively engaging the community partners in the dialogue process by adjusting to the needs of the organization(s) with whom they worked. The facilitators played a major role in acquiring a level of trust from the community partners, therefore solidifying and ensuring their continued participation in the research project.
Conclusions: On the surface, the facilitator’s role is to make the dialogue process more effective. However, because the facilitator is often the face that represents the institutions that are engaged in the research, the facilitator also has considerable influence on the outcomes of the community’s participation in the research project.
Learning Objectives: Objective: To describe the role of facilitators engaging Communities of Color in the dialogue process.
Keywords: Ethnic Minorities, Genetics
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Tuskegee University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.