A Method for Achieving Reciprocity of Funding in Community-Based Participatory Research

Abstract

Background The St. Louis Komen Project was conceived to address disparities in breast cancer treatment and outcomes between African-American and White women in St. Louis, Missouri. Our goal was to apportion tasks and funding through a process to which all researcher partners had input and to which all could agree, thus eliminating institutionalized inequalities. Methods This paper describes the collaborative process and resulting division of responsibilities, determination of costs, and ultimate allocation of funds and resources, as well as the documentation employed to achieve funding reciprocity and equal accountability. Results Both communication and documentation are critical. Although the Memoranda of Understanding employed are not a panacea, they codify roles and expectations and promote trust. The process of developing financial transparency set the tone for subsequent steps in the research process. Conclusions The exhaustive planning process and project-specific procedures developed by its partners have helped the project foster reciprocity, facilitate participation, and equitably distribute resources.

Improving breast cancer services for African-American women living in St. Louis

“…These 60–90 min interviews took place in women’s homes and were designed, based on narrative theory, to evoke narratives about each woman’s breast cancer treatment experience. They were conducted by two specially trained female African-American interviewers using a guide jointly prepared by the authors and breast cancer survivors living in the same zip codes [ 25 ]. Narrative theory holds that narrative is a basic human strategy for coming to terms with fundamental elements of experience, such as time and process.…”

“…Finally, we conducted focus groups of patient navigators and provider staff members to gain their perspectives on the breast cancer treatment of women in the North St. Louis cluster. Our provider partners, members of the North St. Louis Breast Cancer Mortality Reduction Executive Committee who represent two hospitals affiliated with an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center [ 25 ], recruited the breast cancer navigators and clinic service providers to participate in the focus groups. Oncology services at the two hospitals share practitioners.…”

Follow the Money: Resource Allocation and Academic Supremacy among Community and University Partners in Food Dignity

“…organizations (Gehlert et al, 2014). The authors describe a four-stage process of outlining the tasks their project would require, assessing the cost of completing each task, deciding which partners would do which tasks, and then drafting the budgets for each organization accordingly.…”

“…Their work especially, and to some extent the paper by Hoeft et al (2014), also provides some insight into intraproject allocations between expense category lines. Gehlert et al (2014) is the only paper in this group to suggest a process for matching the scope of work in a project to the appropriate amount of funding.…”

Community Collaborative Cultural Adaptation: Creating Culturally Appropriate Behavioral Interventions through University and Community Collaborations

“…First, the fact that the university housed the funds and paid community collaborators inadvertently increased the power differential between the university and community collaborators. Moreover, the fact that the university team had the responsibility for approving payroll was inconsistent with the goal of a non-hierarchical structure for the entire collaborative team (Gehlert et al, 2014). Since we were not using a time clock, the number of hours worked was sometimes difficult to calculate.…”