Broadening the definition of health researcher: Community collaborations defining the research agenda

The West Virginia Prevention Research Center (WVPRC) and its Community Partnership Board (CPB) are dedicated to utilizing community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods to guide their research on chronic disease risk reduction in WV and other underserved populations. In 2009-2010, the CPB, comprised of WV community members and state agency representatives, led its own research project to collect community perceptions of health needs and resources across WV communities in order to inform the WVPRC's community-driven research and translation agenda. The CPB and WVPRC created a comprehensive survey tool relevant to WV communities: the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The CHNA collects information on population and community health, with a special focus on chronic diseases and associated risk factors. The survey incorporated questions regarding perceptions of disease burden, access to support services, and provider-client interaction. The partners collectively identified the primary survey topic areas, developed survey items, assessed literacy levels, identified approaches for state-wide dissemination, and developed an analytic plan. The CHNA targets WV residents and will be administered through paper and Web-based surveys disseminated by CPB members. The CPB and WVPRC will compare the perceived health concerns identified in the CHNA with county- and state-reported health outcome data. Results will identify geographic areas with the greatest needs for health and preventive services, and will drive intervention development, policy enactment, and economic analyses of existing resources. The CHNA illustrates how community partners can collaborate with an academic research center to shape a research agenda that targets community identified health priorities and disparities.