Community Based Participatory Research

Kohatsu, Robinson, and Torner make the point that evidence-based public health must involve the community stakeholders (Kohatsu ND, Robinson JG, Torner JC. Evidence-based public health: An evolving concept. Am J Prev Med. 2004 Dec;27(5):417-21.) But how?

Community-based participatory research is one way:

http://www.ahrq.gov/research/cbprrole.htm

Through CBPR, community members aren't just subjects, they're partners. After all, who knows better what's happening in a neighborhood than the community?

Of course, there can be problems with CBPR. Your agenda may not be their agenda. Or is it?.....

Let's say you know there is a major obesity/diabetes problem in one of the neighborhoods. You set up town hall meetings with organizers and community members and all they want to talk about are the broken lights and bad sidewalks in the neighborhood. And some of the streets don't even have sidewalks. And the park is completely unsafe as it's used for prostitution and drug dealing.

What does any of this have to do with obesity and diabetes? That's what you planned on talking about, not the neighborhood!

Well, guess what-- it has everything to do with obesity and diabetes! The outdoor environment plays a major role in the ability of people to go out and exercise. If it's unsafe and unattractive, why will they go outside? So what can you do to improve the immediate environment? That issue may have to be tackled before you can implement a "10,000 steps a day" program, right?

So, does CBPR work? Take a look at an evidence report published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality:
http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/cbpr/cbpr.pdf
Chapter 3 and 4 are results and discussion respectively.

Consider looking at some of the studies included to see if maybe they might provide some insight to how you can incorporate CBPR into your next project.

And the moral is, we all have to learn to play nice!