Community-based participatory research: A partnership approach to policy advocacy

Given the complex set of social and physical environmental determinants of health and health inequities, there have been increasing calls for policy advocacy approaches to impact these factors. Community-based participatory research (CBPR), involving community-academic-practice partnerships in research and action that benefits the communities involved, is a particularly viable approach to improving health through policy change. In this presentation we will describe the history and goals of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (URC), a CPBR partnership established in 1995, and two of its affiliated projects that have been involved in policy-related work: the Community Action Against Asthma “Community Organizing Network for Environmental Health (CONEH)” project and Neighborhoods Working in Partnership – Building Capacity for Policy Change (NWP). We will provide a rationale for CBPR and policy advocacy and for capacity building for policy change. We will discuss the policy advocacy strategies used by and the accomplishments of the CONEH project, aimed at increasing knowledge and awareness of the environmental triggers of childhood asthma, and reducing environmental hazards in the neighborhoods involved. We will explain the content and the process of the training conducted in the NWP project aimed at enhancing the capacity of adult and youth community members to conduct effective policy advocacy. An analysis will be presented of the challenges of using a CBPR approach for policy advocacy, and lessons learned and recommendations will be provided for translating CBPR into policy and enhancing community capacity to engage in policy advocacy to effect structural change and to promote health.