Abstract

Communities of practice for community-engaged research: Building critical approaches to community engagement

Yasamin Graff, MPH¹, Sophia Stenzler¹, Emily Welle, MSc¹, Antony Stately, PhD², Sarah Gollust, PhD¹, Katherine Diaz Vickery, MD, MSc³, Kristen Jacklin, PhD⁴, LaPrincess Brewer, MD, MPH⁵ and Rebekah Pratt, PhD¹
(1)University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, (2)Native American Community Clinic, Minneapolis, MN, (3)Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Minneapolis, MN, (4)University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, (5)Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN

APHA 2024 Annual Meeting and Expo

The Community Engagement (CE) Core for the Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM) used the innovative approach of Communities of Practice (CoPs) as a way to promote better community-engaged work between academia, community, and other government, public health and healthcare institutions. There is a need for researchers to conduct intentional community engagement and to foster anti-racist practices in research. In fostering an anti-racist research environment, it is necessary to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of the process. Embracing anti-racism stems from deliberate choices to include and amplify every voice, ensuring meaningful action follows. Developing tools and approaches to embed anti-racist and critical learning for community engagement into research is key. We expanded on the work from Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner and connected the process of our CoPs to the values of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). A successful Community of Practice (CoP) involves building trust, shared decision-making, and bi-directional communication and learning, all among the participants and organizers of the series. Through two case studies, including the Land Acknowledgement CoP and the Community-Centered Dissemination CoP, the CE Core describes the experience and the process of developing, running, and evaluating CoPs in C2DREAM. This poster will present lessons learned. These lessons included 1) CoPs are a way to deepen learning and capacity building around a topic or focus relevant to academic, community, and institutional audiences, 2) CoPs are a great tool when designed and implemented with intentionality, and 3) CoPs were most successful when participants were open to possibilities and adapting, were patient, and were willing to listen and observe. These lessons and others will be explored in this poster.

Administration, management, leadership Diversity and culture Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs Program planning Public health or related research