Sponsored by the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics (JERHRE), the Hobby Center for Public Policy at University of Houston, and Community-Campus Partnerships for Health. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a dynamic partnership between the researcher and the community stakeholders. To be successful, CBPR must be planned and operated as a collaborative, growing, long-term relationship whose specific activities may develop in the course of multi-lateral planning, and are designed to satisfy the needs of all concerned.  Workshop topics include:

• Models of community engagement

• Challenges to community-based research (e.g., dealing with your IRB, mediating conflicts with the community, data ownership and sharing, participant access and recruitment)

• Models for creating effective research teams (e.g., focus groups, community advisory boards)

• Characteristics of effective community-based researcher teams (e.g., clinicians, applied statisticians, research assistants, data managers, patient advocates, media relations).

• Case studies: What works, what doesn’t work and why.

• Developing an effective Memorandum of Understanding between the stakeholders. 

Who Should Attend

Do you have any plans to work collaboratively in a research institution - community relationship? Are you beginning to plan a community project that calls for prior investigation of such questions as who would be helped by the program, or how the program should be organized for maximum effectiveness?

Are you a biomedical researcher engaged in translational research -- a bench-to-bedside approach to medical innovation sponsored by the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/clinical/research/overview-translational.asp

Are you a community leader who needs to know how to forge a long-term relationship with a research institution that will truly satisfy the needs and modes of operation of your organization?

This workshop will enable researchers, research administrators (including IRB members) and community members to work productively in a community-researcher relationship. It will focus on developing a 5, 10 or more year relationship in which important interventions are developed to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned.

Be a Leader in Improving CBPR Practices

• Learn how to work effectively in town-gown relationships.

• Ensure satisfaction of the needs of all parties involved.

• Become competent at negotiating successful agreements among the stakeholders in CBPR.

      Why is this Workshop Important?

Applied research in communities often fails to get started, or fails to yield knowledge that is usable or used, because it lacks an effective community-researcher partnership. CBPR is an integral partnership that must be long-lasting to bear fruit (perhaps at least 5 years and ideally longer). It requires a sustained commitment by all stakeholders to remain a part of the project despite changes in stakeholder priorities, project funding and community politics. But it is like a round peg in a square hole: The bureaucracies of research institutions and funders do not mesh easily with communities, their members and leaders. Often academic institutions and funders must relinquish some of their standard requirements and procedures in order to accommodate the culture and procedures of communities. Academic researchers have long practiced “grab the data and run” and communities no longer permit such exploitation. Unless community-based research projects take the necessary steps to get everyone “on the same page” they may be short lived.

What is the problem?

Academic and community institutions typically do not have the same goals and modes of operation. Expectations, planning processes, institutional requirements and timetables may not work well together. The needs and goals of neither the researchers nor the community leaders may be met unless these challenges are overcome.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a program that is planned within a dynamic long-term partnership between the researcher and community stake holders. It is neither a site at which university researchers arrange to do their research, nor is it a consulting arrangement in which the community hires a researcher to conduct a needs assessment, evaluation or specific intervention project. Rather, CBPR is a collaborative, growing relationship whose specific activities develop in the course of multi-lateral planning between stakeholders. CBPR programs are designed to identify and guide solutions to multi-faceted problems.

What are the Workshop Goals?

The overall goal is to understand the principles and practices that underlie productive CBPR. To achieve this:

• The challenges to CBPR will be examined.

• Various models of CBPR will be discussed and critiqued in relation to their responsiveness to the needs of community leaders and academic researchers.

• The challenge of turning words into commitments on the part of both community institutions and research institutions will be discussed

• The kinds of memoranda of understanding and other approaches to clarifying agreements that underlie successful CBPR will be examined.

The 3rd Annual JERHRE Workshop Is Scheduled

October 25- 28, 2011

Read Details and Register to Attend

VIEW THE PROGRAM, PHOTOS, &

DOWNLOAD WORKSHOP PAPERS

ORDER THE WORKSHOP BOOKLET / CD

(The post-conference CD contains all the background papers, presentations, materials, and summaries of panel discussions. These materials are also available for downloading from the program page)

READ THE NEWS RELEASE

Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Members Susan Gust and Cathy Jordan Present Over Ten Years of Partnership Experience at CBPR Workshop in Houston, TX. Read more about them (scroll down to Members in Action).

EVENT CONTACT:

Contact Dr. Joan E. Sieber at  joan.sieber@csueastbay.edu or (510) 538-5424 for inquiries about the content of the Workshop. 

Contact Mike Angel at mangel2@uh.edu or (713) 743-3976 for general information about the Workshop and logistics.