Community and academic perspectives of the community-based participatory research process: Evaluation results from CDC's Prevention Research Centers

The Prevention Research Centers (PRC) Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funds 33 research centers in schools of public health and medicine to conduct health promotion and disease prevention research. PRCs partner with specific communities with whom they conduct their research and other center activities. For the core research project funded by CDC, all PRCs use community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods. As part of a multi-component ongoing national evaluation, CDC implemented qualitative studies to better understand critical program components for which qualitative inquiry was most appropriate. In one of these studies, evaluators completed interviews with academic and community representatives at a sample of PRCs to comprehend the processes academic and community members use to conduct CBPR. The presentation will provide evaluation results on the similarities and differences in community and academic perspectives on 1) the group processes that help and hinder the research partnership; 2) the discussions that occur around scientific rigor for the core research; 3) the learning that has occurred through community involvement in research; and 4) the evolution of community involvement in PRC research over time. Findings include the importance of educating community members on research basics, the importance of valuing each other's culture and experiences, and the increase in academics' commitment to community involvement over time. Lastly, we will present CDC's perspectives on the PRC Program's contributions to understanding CBPR processes and offer suggestions for other programs.