Tentative Conference Program*
* Program will change as planning ensues, so check back.
Community-Based Participatory Research
University of Houston
University Hilton
April 9-10, 2009
Overview:
What Kinds of Research are Pertinent?
- Health and education research directed at various community populations: impoverished inner-city communities, rural communities, Aboriginal or indigenous communities, etc.
- Research designed to improve employment, housing, public safety, nutrition, parenting and child care, among many other topics
- International research programs of many kinds
- Translational medicine projects that work iteratively between biomedical research institutions and communities of patients
- Epidemiological research to understand illnesses and diseases prevalent in the community, the behavioral and environmental causes of these illnesses, and ways to r edu ce the illnesses
- Educational program to assess the community needs of youth who are at risk for gang activity, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and criminal activity.
What Makes CBPR Projects Successful?
A CBPR program must define its goals as ones that the community wants to promote and sustain, and must be feasible for the community and researchers to carry out. It must produce knowledge that has pragmatic value to the program, and new understanding within the community of effective ways to live and work, train personnel, build commitments to projects, and create well-defined projects within which the stakeholders can succeed at their goals.
What is the Conference About?
The conference will be a series of brief presentations, each followed by moderated lively interactive discussions with panelists and the audience. Background papers will be available to provide more detail, and sources of further education and resources will be provided.
Experts from academe (CB researchers, statisticians, specialists in health including epidemiology, education, business, professional school faculty) and the community (business leaders, religious leaders, city managers, civic leaders) will be invited to review background papers they consider of particular interest to them, and will serve as discussants along with other panelists and the audience.
This two-day conference will address the following sequence of topics:
- General challenges of CBPR
- Challenges specific to major kinds of CBPR
- Challenges for specific stakeholders in CBPR
- General approaches to meeting challenges
- Some specific CBPR projects on the drawing board and anticipated challenges and best practices for meeting those challenges
- Workshops
The exact topics will depend on suggestions from experts in CBPR and availability of appropriate panelists and discussants. The following are some possible topics, proposed here for planning purposes:
Day 1 – The Challenges of CBPR
Welcome and Overview
Keynote Address
I. General challenges of CBPR
• Why is CBPR recognized as critical to addressing pressing problems of populations?
• Models of CBPR
• Pitfalls – How do well-intentioned CBPR partners create unworkable relationships?
• Enabling communities to manage their role as gatekeepers of research
• Discussion: What are the key challenges of CBPR?
Break
II. Challenges of specific kinds of CBPR (some possibilities)
• Health research with indigenous communities
• Translational medicine – bringing innovative medicine to community settings.
• Building career paths for underprivileged youth and adults
• Educational programs (e.g., youth, parenting, health)
• Deterring crime and violence
• Discussion: What issues do CBPR programs have in common? What differences?
Lunch - Lunch groups based on topics
III. Challenges for specific stakeholders in CBPR
• Funding agencies and their models
• Ethics committees: CBPR and IRB protocols; do IRBs protect community interests?
• Academic and Research Administrations – What's needed to accommodate CBPR?
• City Planners & Elected officials – How they work. How they need to work with CBPR
• Ideal models of funding, academic administration and community organizations.
• Discussion: What works and what doesn't
Break
IV. Approaches to meeting the challenges
• General approaches by academicians, communities and funders to meeting challenges
• Checklists that help formulate effective approaches to issues.
• Uses of formative research: or How to identify the right problems
• Kinds of formative research methods (e.g., focus groups, action research, interviews)
• Models for creating effective research teams
• The qualities of an effective statistician for CBPR
• Designing valid research: Common pitfalls in designing, conducting & interpreting CBPR, Avoiding the file-drawer problem, Valid research designs, Simulations, Meta-analysis, EITM
Day 2 – Doing It! Real Problems, Best Practices (You actually get to practice), Research Agendas
The organization of Day 2 will depend partly on the kinds of topics that are introduced in III on Day 1. As currently planned, topics will be introduced that differ significantly in the main issues they raise and for each, a panel will discuss:
- Experiences of researchers as they seek to become part of the community
- Experiences of community collaborators as they seek to work effectively with researchers
- Summary of relevant best practices. Check Lists. Skill building. Some formative research agendas
Such panels will comprise the morning activities.
Lunch
Workshops will be conducted with group participation topics such as the following:
• Developing a CBPR partnership
• Securing and distributing new funding before current funding ends
• Sustainability of CBPR partnerships
• Authorship and dissemination of findings
• Memoranda of Understanding, Checklists & Timetables
Wrap up & action plans
Wine & Cheese reception
