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Community Engagement

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, community Engagement is the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people. It is a powerful vehicle for bringing about environmental and behavioral changes that will improve the health of the community and its members. It often involves partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners, and serve as catalysts for changing policies, programs, and practices. 1

Community engagement can take many forms, and partners can include organized groups, agencies, institutions, or individuals. Collaborators may be engaged in health promotion, research, or policymaking. Defining a Community is a powerful decision that requires consulting diverse groups and examining assumptions about who belongs.

Principles of Community Engagement

  1. Be clear about the purposes of engagement and the populations you wish to engage
  2. Become knowledgeable about the community
  3. Establish relationships
  4. Collective self-determination is the responsibility and right of the community
  5. Partnering is necessary to create change and improve health
  6. Recognize and respect the diversity of the community
  7. Mobilize community assets and develop community capacity to take action
  8. Release control of actions and be flexible to meet changing needs
  9. Collaboration requires a long-term commitment

Community Engaged Research

Community-engaged research (CEnR) is, “the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people.2

In collaboration with patients, healthcare systems, neighborhood-based organizations, and other stakeholder groups, community-engaged research is carried out. A number of variables, including the goals of the research, determine the character of the collaboration. One method for conducting community-engaged research is community-based participatory research (CBPR). In order to ensure that each partner’s distinct capabilities and expertise inform the research from conception to dissemination, CBPR involves all partners equally in the project.3

Community Engaged Research Process is a cyclical process

Research, according to CER, is a connection and a process that happens with communities, not for or on them (as a client or ward). To develop and carry out studies and carry out activities based on the results, this should ideally be a cyclical process of shared inquiry and collaboration. This strengthens the bond between communities and researchers by generating new questions and interventions for future research partnerships.4

CER also supports researchers in being more reflective about the nature and goals of their work, the power dynamics in research teams, and the interests of the parties the study is intended to serve. 4

Benefits of Community-Engaged Research Process

  1. Develop research questions concerning health issues of concern to the community
  2. The knowledge and skills of the public involved in the project can be enhanced, and their contributions can be recognized (possibly through financial rewards). These efforts foster goodwill and help lay the groundwork for subsequent collaborations.
  3. Community organizations can gain enhanced knowledge, a higher profile in the community, more linkages with other community members and entities, and new organizational capacity. These benefits can create goodwill and help lay the groundwork for subsequent collaborations.
  4. Help in recruiting participants – people more likely to support the research and researchers when they understand the purpose of the research and how the results may affect them
  5. Improves study and instrument design through community input to produce user-friendly, culturally sensitive, accurate, and valid practices and measures
  6. Improves study and instrument design through community input to produce user-friendly, culturally sensitive, accurate, and valid practices and measures

References

  1. Chapter 1: What Is Community Engagement? | Principles of Community Engagement | ATSDR [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 14]. Available from: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/communityengagement/pce_what.html
  2. Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Community Health Equity & Engagement in Research (CHEER (Toolkit [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 14]. Available from: https://ctsi.psu.edu/cheer/researcher/community-engaged-research/
  3. Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Community Health Equity & Engagement in Research (CHEER (Toolkit [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 14]. Available from: https://ctsi.psu.edu/cheer/researcher/community-engaged-research/
  4. Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Community Health Equity & Engagement in Research (CHEER (Toolkit [Internet]. [cited 2024 Jul 14]. Available from: https://ctsi.psu.edu/cheer/researcher/community-engaged-research/

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