Community concerns about participatory research.

Abstract

This chapter represents some of the diverse voices of community agencies and self-help organizations. Our perspective has been largely absent from the literature, even from the related text by Tolan, Keys, Chertok, and Jason (1990). Therefore, our participation in this book signifies an advance in academicians' valuation of community expertise. This chapter offers a community perspective, tempered by personal and indirect experiences, of the contributions to participatory research presented in the preceding chapters. Our objective is to facilitate respectful and effective university-community collaborations for participatory community research and for program development. Several themes emerged from our considerations of the fit of participatory research methods and findings with the realities of social and economic problems, as experienced at the community level. These themes are the focus of this chapter. Community Consensus ThemesSix themes are of great importance to us: advocacy, topic selection, language, relationships, ethics, and funding and sustainability. Together, these individual themes speak to two values-concerns crucial to individuals and community groups: (a) the assistance of academia in solving community problems is welcome when researchers are committed to valuing the individual's real-world experience and. to being sensitive to cultural and personal differences and (b) research must contribute to the betterment of the participating community (i.e., the project should be meaningful to the community and provide useful information to operate and sustain program interventions).

Optimizing older adult co-researchers’ involvement in PAR: proposed evaluation tool

“…They are related to the importance of considering reciprocal and active learning activities (Banks and Brydon-Miller, 2019), and not only academic to nonacademic skills transfers. Principle 1.2.2 now emphasizes the potential for mutual enrichment in PAR in terms of knowledge, know-how and sense of control (Blair and Minkler, 2009), whereas Principle 1.2.3 emphasizes the importance of mutual understanding and trust among co-researchers (Van der Eb et al , 2003). Another central adjustment, in Principle 1.3.1, is linked to the agenda for change intrinsic to PAR: there might be a commitment to develop effective and solutions regarding the issues for which the research was undertaken (Doheny and Rees Jones, 2020; Mey and van Hove, 2019).…”