Engaging Diverse Communities in Health Disparities Research: Best Practices and Lessons Learned in Developing Intercultural Community-Academic Scholars

What kind of institutional strategies and actions foster authentic research partnerships between the academy and community? While the core principles and processes of community based-participatory research (CBPR) have received wide recognition as an effective approach to studying and addressing health disparities, less is known on effective organizational change strategies. Using an intercultural communications and CBPR model, the Community Engagement Core (CEC) of the New Mexico Health Disparities Research Center (NM CARES HD) implemented a two year initiative to facilitate institutional capacities to engage, participate, and develop health disparities intervention research with and across diverse Latino and Native American communities. Using a two-pronged approach, the CEC implemented: 1) an institutional assessment of barriers and facilitators to effective community engaged research; and 2) developed cohorts of “intercultural health disparity scholars” and co-learning institutes in four diverse regions of the state. Key insights and lessons learned from both processes suggest that building trust with the community requires a deeper reflection and self assessment of current and historical patterns of institutional privilege, racism and power dynamics, including traditional University control over budgets and research processes. Mutual listening, cross-cultural dialogue and negotiated agreements that include new terms and conditions that benefit the communities are needed for shifting to doing research “with” rather than “on” communities of color. Our project has implications for other community-academic partners seeking new strategies for institution-wide engagement, rather than project-specific research and for building public trust and a “community of researchers” that spans institutional boundaries.