Creating the environment for a successful community partnership

Abstract

This paper describes the development of the American Indian Oncology Program (AIOP) and presents the accomplishments of a participatory research approach that involved an integrated network for cancer care and research. AIOP used a participatory process to develop infrastructure, identify research questions, develop methodologies, write supplemental grants, and evaluate accomplishments based on community defined measures of success. Partnerships between University and Indian Health Service, private, and state institutions led to improved collaboration. Health services delivery improved by increasing provider involvement at multiple institutions via a Tumor Board. Community awareness improved through workshops addressing community-specific cancer concerns. Collectively, these resulted in an environment receptive to the development of research activities. The AIOP team, through a participatory process, developed infrastructure at each institution that facilitated interaction, community-based education, and improved patient care; identified new partners; raised community-level knowledge and awareness about cancer; encouraged a research-friendly environment and building research capacity; and increased the cultural competency of researchers wishing to work in American Indian communities and created a cadre of future American Indian cancer researchers. As evidenced by successful pilot project development and formation of ongoing research and funding applications, the authors created a research-receptive environment and promoted potentially sustainable research capacity in the community. Much of their success is the result of utilizing a participatory model for capacity building that included not only communities but institutions.

Parent recommendations to support physical activity for families with young children: Results of interviews in deprived and affluent communities in South Wales (United Kingdom)

“…50 Engaging users to identify, design and deliver interventions is recommended to remedy current unhealthy lifestyles and lack of engagement with health messages. 51,52 We identified barriers to family-based physical activity which align with the levels described in Bronfenbrenner's socio-ecological model. 31,40 We also found that some issues cross the ecological levels: work patterns and income (exosystem) affect individual isolation and well-being (microsystem); and the quality of built environments and neighbourhood facilities (mesosystem) was associated with socio-economic characteristics (macrosystem).…”

“…Few physical activity‐based interventions have targeted both mothers and fathers of young children, or have focused on facilitators and barriers to parent and child physical activity in the community . Engaging users to identify, design and deliver interventions is recommended to remedy current unhealthy lifestyles and lack of engagement with health messages …”

Using Focus Groups in Community-Based Participatory Research: Challenges and Resolutions

“…Numerous researchers have called CBPR a best practice in American Indian communities (Burhansstipanov, Christopher, & Schumacher, 2005; Caldwell et al, 2005; Coe, Wilson, Eisenberg, Attakai, & Lobell, 2006; Kaur, Dignan, Burhansstipanov, Baukol, & Claus, 2006; Noe et al, 2007; Strickland, 2006), largely because of historic abuses by medical and other researchers (Burhansstipanov et al, 2005). Many have asserted that the majority of American Indian communities prefer CBPR to other research methods, and some communities mandate its use.…”

Network Analysis of an Organizational Collaboration for Pacific Islander Cancer Control

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15] Community-based participatory research (CBPR) could be viewed as one such organizational collaborative approach, as it is based upon the principles of co-learning between community and research institution members, shared power in decision making, and actions targeting fundamental structural changes for the community. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] The mechanism of CBPR is collaboration between community and university researchers, a highly integrated form of connection that is rooted in interorganizational theories. Many current efforts to reduce health disparities, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's REACH 2010 (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health by the year 2010) initiative and the National Cancer Institute's Community Network Programs, have their basis in CBPR.…”

“…Many current efforts to reduce health disparities, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's REACH 2010 (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health by the year 2010) initiative and the National Cancer Institute's Community Network Programs, have their basis in CBPR. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] While collaborative efforts have become common, there are few methods to assess and track the effectiveness of these collaborations. In the interorganizational field, network analysis can assess the degree to which and by whom information and other goods are exchanged in the network.…”