Democratizing research education as a tool for social change: Citizen Science through a CBPR lens

A growing number of researcher/community partnerships are turning to Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) collaborations to reduce disparities and promote health equity through community engagement in research. Major goals in CBPR address ethical dimensions of community trust, inclusion in formulating research questions and implementing a research agenda, and ensuring community benefit. Yet major challenges in implementing CPBR principles include enormous educational disparities between academic researchers and community members, especially for those affected by health disparities. These communities remain underrepresented in health sciences research and practice, due to barriers to participation and histories of ethical abuses generating mistrust. This presentation applies and expands the construct of “Citizen Science” within the field of informal science education (IOM 2009) using CBPR principles and methods. Currently used in biological and environmental sciences, Citizen Scientists are trained to collect data contributing to a larger research study (ie bird counts, water quality). Application of Citizen Science through CBPR principles will be illustrated through the HORIZON Center CARE study, collaborating with the Cherishing Our Hearts and Souls Coalition, designed to enhance community research literacy components of community-based health education. Health education events in a community setting are designed to include participatory research pedagogies promoting health literacy, reducing barriers and inspiring participation in generation of knowledge. The presentation will describe research literacy methods using CBPR principles, highlighting "health citizenship" dimensions of health literacy, and applications to participatory research education for faculty, community members, and undergraduates from underrepresented groups, creating communities of knowledge democratizing participation and promoting social change.