Navigating participation and ethics with immigrant communities.

Abstract

Participatory approaches offer methodologies for researchers to work in partnership with communities, to foster equity and empowerment, and to act toward social justice. Given the inherent power imbalances between researchers and community participants, and the unique vulnerabilities and strengths of immigrant communities, the question of best practices, in how to co-create research inquiry, knowledge production, and ethical practice demands deep, and on-going reflection. In the current article, two case studies illustrate ethical dilemmas that arose in the context of engaging in participatory research with immigrant communities. The dilemmas highlight issues of power, autonomy, benefit, visibility, and voice for community participants and partners. The ethical quandaries call for a shift from traditional paradigms that do not adequately fulfill the needs, perspectives, and preferences of immigrants and communities of color. The cases inform broader questions of ongoing transformation and progress in the field to address structural racism, and demand that research aims go beyond knowledge acquisition and objective distance, to connection, partnership, and mutual benefit. Future scholarship should continue to derive and develop guidelines from ethical challenges in research with immigrants, and Black, indigenous, and communities of color, which highlight gaps and fissures in the current ethical code, and need to be addressed.

A Content Analysis of Immigrant and Refugee Research: A 31-year Review

“…Research partnership through community-based participatory research is an excellent example of such efforts (Vaughn et al, 2017). It fosters equity and empowerment for immigrant and refugee communities by including community participants in the process of developing research questions, collecting data, and interpreting and disseminating the findings (Suarez-Balcazar et al, 2022; Vaughn et al, 2017). The discipline of counseling psychology and academic institutions may promote such efforts via editorial decisions, promotion and tenure evaluations, and funding support.…”

Dismantling racism through partnership with resettled refugee communities.

“…Participatory research methods with refugee communities offer long-standing approaches that start with accompaniment and, over the long term, develop collaborative and equitable partnerships to coproduce knowledge and impact social change (Freire, 2005; Suarez-Balcazar et al, 2022). However, participatory methodologies remain underutilized in psychology (Collins et al, 2018; Rodriguez Espinosa & Verney, 2021).…”

“…Participatory research approaches center the priorities of the community, and community partners take part in decision making from the outset to ethical practice to dissemination of findings and programs (Collins et al, 2018; Kia-Keating & Juang, 2022; Suarez-Balcazar et al, 2022). Communities are viewed from the standpoint of the experts of their own lives, with critical knowledge about needs, strengths, and sustainable practices (Kia-Keating et al, 2017).…”

“…However, participatory methodologies remain underutilized in psychology (Collins et al, 2018;Rodriguez Espinosa & Verney, 2021). Some scholars have demonstrated their utility and power in engaging with refugee communities (for a scoping review, see Filler et al, 2021), helping to advance ethics, reliability, and validity in research and to respond to a "triple imperative": academic rigor, policy significance, and community-centeredness in enhancing capacity, agency, and empowerment from within (Block et al, 2013;Filler et al, 2021;Suarez-Balcazar et al, 2022;Wallerstein et al, 2018).…”

“…Traditional encounters with psychologists and other health care professionals may trigger realistic fears and apprehensions about sharing personal information or establishing trust (Byrow et al, 2020). Dismantling racism through accompaniment means that psychologists avoid reenacting legacies of oppression, and actively engender agency, and empowerment (for a detailed review of relevant ethical principles, see Chávez et al, 2008; Ellis et al, 2007; Kia-Keating, 2012; Kia-Keating & Juang, 2022; Suarez-Balcazar et al, 2022).…”