: Fitting a square peg into a round hole: Lessons learned from a community-based participatory research project

BACKGROUND: The importance of engaging communities at every stage of the research process is gaining widespread acceptance as a best practice within the research academy. Central to the leading community-research paradigms i.e. referenced as Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR), Participatory Action Research (PAR), or Community-Engaged Research —is the premise that community members in their privileged status as “insiders” can offer novel and deeper insights into the ethos of target communities that may be blind spots for academic researchers. While both the academic researcher and community are willing to embrace this new and necessary partnership to advance research knowledge and outcomes, are they ready? We will present the lessons learned from two studies that used the CBPR framework to improve health outcomes among historically marginalized populations—one US based study and another international “Global Bridges” project conducted in Durban, South Africa. Methods: Data collected through mixed-methods CBPR studies including focus groups, community surveys and semi-structured interviews with users of a community health clinic will be presented and discussed. Findings: The challenges we will highlight based on the findings from our research will include how the current IRB review process can present challenges to the more dynamic and fluid process of CBPR; and the importance of balancing power and promoting research climates that foster mutual respect of academic as well as community insights. The findings will include perspectives from university students as well as youth (aged 14 to 18) recruited as community researchers in the Global Bridges project.