309152
National Community Committee Community Voices Project
Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health educationChronic disease management and prevention
Diversity and culture
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Learning Objectives:
DESCRIBE THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL- PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTERS-NATIONAL COMMUNITY COMMITTEE:
In 1984, Congress authorized the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create a network of academic health centers to conduct applied public health research. The Center for Disease and Prevention was selected to administer the Prevention Research Centers (PRC) network and to provide leadership, technical assistance, and oversight.
Compared to the past, today, the CDC supports 37 centers, associated with schools of public health, medicine, or osteopathy throughout the country. Each center conducts at least one core research project with an underserved population that has a disproportionately large burden of disease and disability.
The National Community Committee can be described as one of the original 7 committees that make up the structure of the Prevention Research Centers, and comprises of representatives from the 37 Prevention Research Center’s Community Advisory Boards. These community representatives advises the program, facilitates training of community members, and educates (advocates) for prevention research using Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) as their guiding principle. The community representatives work together to formulate recommendations about how community committees can share information and better serve the individual centers as well as the national program.
EXPLAIN THE VISION:
The National Community Committee can be described as a national network of community representatives engaged in equitable partnerships with researchers to:
1. Define local health priorities
2. Drive prevention research agendas, and
3. Develop solutions to improve the overall health and quality of life of all communities.
4. Community engagement and partnerships by building community capacity to participate in the Prevention Research Center’s research projects.
5. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Public Health Practice by building Prevention Research Center Community Committee capacity to conduct research using the Community-Based Participatory Research model.
6. Community health education (advocacy) for disease prevention and intervention
a. Promote Community-Based Participatory research (CBPR) to funders, universities, governmental and legislative organizations.
b. Promote health policies that support improved community health outcomes
7. Work together to make a difference on the local, regional and national levels.
EXPLAIN THE MISSION:
The Prevention Research Center’s National Community Committee demonstrates excellent example to build capacity in communities within local Prevention Research Centers that were not traditionally involved in the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of prevention research initiatives by:
1. Developing and facilitating education, training resource sharing, and technical assistance opportunities that encourage and enhance participation in research activities.
2. Creating a supportive and culturally relevant environment in which representatives can share successes, concerns, and other lessons learned.
3. Educating (advocating) for policy change.
4. Making recommendations to advance the work of individual community representatives, local centers, and the national Prevention Research Center Program.
The National Community Committee’s list of strategies when working collaboratively with diverse groups can be explained as follows:
1. Education (advocacy) on behalf of our communities at local, regional and national levels.
2. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) expertise and consultation:
a. Innovation in community-focused grant proposal review
b. Translation of research to practice at the community level.
3. Mobilization of our community partners for rapid response to emerging opportunities.
4. Forging of partnerships with other national organizations aimed at promoting service/learning through Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR).
5. Organizational re-structuring mechanisms to accommodate our growing diversity of interests.
The importance of community involvement in research can be explained as follows:
1. To help identify and prioritize community’s health needs.
2. Be part of the development of effective and inclusive interventions.
3. Participate in the communication and dissemination of the Center’s findings.
4. Be part of the evaluation of the Center to assure its contribution to the local, state, national and international health needs, and the national Prevention Research Center (PRC) Program.
Describe a typical Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) scenario can be described as follows:
Following the principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), for instance the topic of obesity prevention was selected by consensus with the community through a series of Town Hall meetings in which the fist-ever Department of Health and Human Services results were shared, a number of disparities were identified and prioritized, components of an intervention program were proposed, and an intervention with peer-reviewed publication of evidence for efficacy was selected. The core research project will test an overall hypothesis that an evidence-based, comprehensive program to modify health behaviors in the chosen community will be effective with those who have heretofore had limited access to such programs. The project will involve taking an existing obesity program to help people lose weight and be more active and adapting it to the community.
Depending on the type of community the program is designed for, the written program materials may have to be converted into American Sign Language (ASL) or any other Language from English Language, next, community members will be trained as program “coaches.” Finally, program participants will be recruited from the core community to be involved in a test of this program. The trained community “coaches” will lead the program. Half of the community members will start the program right away. The other half will start 6 months later. The Prevention Research Center researchers will collect data throughout to find out if the program works as intended or not.
Data-Sharing: Investigators who are interested in learning more about a PRC’s Health Survey and other research findings should discuss such interests with the respective PRC they are interested in. Requests for data analyses and access to datasets are subject to review by the respective PRC Research Committee and the Core Community Committee. The PRC Executive Committee reviews and manages data use agreements with investigators who are interested in conducting their own hypothesis-driven analyses using any PRC dataset.
Design of Cross-Cultural Research Training Curriculum: Opportunities are available for researchers to design and conduct cross-cultural research, including, involving culturally hearing-impaired (Deaf) participants that is of high ethical and scientific quality, which responds to the hearing-impaired community or any other community’s priorities and perspectives, that results in new and valid knowledge, and that yields meaningful benefits for researchers and community members alike.
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Chair of the National Community Committee. I am also the National Community Committee Representative for the University of Maryland Prevention Research center and hold a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism and Doctorate Degree in philosophy from an accredited university.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.