A field test of guidelines for community-based participatory research in the evaluation of an environmental cancer outreach program

The growing literature on community-based participatory research (CBPR) has produced few formal evaluations of the CBPR approach itself. Tested criteria and measures of CBPR would facilitate such efforts. In this study, established CBPR guidelines were evaluated for their appropriateness and usefulness in a program evaluation. The guidelines were used to evaluate the Community Outreach and Translation Core (COTC) of the Bay Area Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center (BABCERC). The COTC (breast cancer advocates, activists and survivors), researchers, and community members collaborate to translate scientific findings from two BABCERC research projects to the public. To evaluate the CBPR guidelines, we used ratings of four COTC members, 4 researchers, and 4 community members on each of the 26 guidelines indicating how well the project had met that guideline. These data were triangulated with transcripts from tape-recorded interviews with the same participants and a focus group with a subset of the participants. The analysis allows us to draw some lessons for CBPR and the needed adaptation of CBPR guidelines and criteria when the partners include a university-medical research organization, an experienced and research-oriented advocacy organization, and other community members with less expertise on the issue. The lessons center around issues of assessing and reconciling differing perspectives not just between scientists and community members, but also among the multiple and diverse scientific and community perspectives.