Appraising and Funding Participatory Research in Health Promotion

Abstract

Participatory action research combines research, education and social action. Each of these elements reflects health education research and practice. Indeed, health education, health promotion and participatory research have converged in these respects. Participatory research is well suited to the philosophies and theories underpinning community-based health education and health promotion. The nature of participatory research is such that funding agencies, especially those awarding research funds, tend to be challenged in their attempts to assess proposals. This is true at least for those agencies operating under traditional criteria for reviewing standards, which may not be appropriate for participatory research. As well, it may reflect a broader lack of common understanding about the processes and expectations, the apparent untidiness of projects (comparing with traditional research) which by their nature offer no standard methods, deadlines, procedures or predetermined outcome measures. The Study of Participatory Research in Health Promotion [1], commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada, attempted to clarify the topic by providing a working definition and a set of guidelines for use by funding agencies when appraising projects purporting to be participatory research. The guidelines emphasize how the normal ways of conducting health research in populations need to adapt to meet the educational and policy expectations of participatory research. The study also examined current practical examples of participatory research in the field of health promotion in Canada. This summary of the results of the project provides detailed guidelines flowing from a review of experience in the field and consultation with groups engaged in participatory research.

Using participatory research to challenge the status quo for women’s cardiovascular health

“…Central to the definition of health promotion itself – the process of increasing people’s control to improve their own health (World Health Organization 1984) – is a principle of engagement and participation. Participatory research, with its goal of achieving social justice through empowerment, underscores the values of, and reflects a health promoting strategy (George, Daniel, and Green 2007). Mindful of the need to balance epidemiological data with mothers’ experiential knowledge of heart health (Roussos and Fawcett 2000), our decision to adopt a mixed method and action‐oriented approach was implemented.…”

Integrating research and action: a systematic review of community-based participatory research to address health disparities in environmental and occupational health in the USA

“…Integrating action with research is an integral part of most known definitions of CBPR,1 – 4 representing one of the goals and key principles of CBPR, but there has been little effort to synthesise the literature to evaluate to what extent such integration is occurring. Most of the previous reviews have focused mainly on the process of CBPR to document institutional, methodological and other issues and challenges involved in building and sustaining CBPR partnerships and the strategies to cope with them 5 – 7.…”

Evaluation of a Partnership Approach to Translating Research on Breast Cancer and the Environment

“…We developed a quantitative rating form (Appendix 1) that drew on a set of previously validated CBPR criteria, ratings and guidelines 11–13. The guidelines were adapted in consultation with the BABCERC Executive Committee to provide a better fit with the purpose and circumstances of the COTC.…”