Facilitating Lessons Learnt

Throughout this quarter, I have learned about community-based research. Community-based research in public health focuses on social, structural, and physical environmental inequities through active involvement of community members, organizational representatives, and researchers in all aspects of the research process”. Those involved in the research give input on what they know about the topic in order to gain a further understanding and to discuss further knowledge with intentions to benefit the community involved. The principles of CBR are to recognize community as a unit of identity, build community strengths and resources, facilitate partnerships in all research phases, and promote co-learning and capacity building.

What I have found throughout the research is that CBR is about facilitating capacity building and increasing policy change through equal engagement between a diverse group of partners within the community. It has also been applied by many health researchers and practitioners to address the many different health disparities and community involvement to promote health equity. What these articles also mention is that community-based research projects have shown little effort within the literature that evaluates CBR and if the interventions are successful or unsuccessful.  I found that the CBPR approach is a valuable research tool in which can involve everyone in the process of positive changes within a community. This type of research searches for solutions for the communities that they are partnered with and I believe that having a long-term end goal, resulting in positive change for a struggling community, is the best way to resolve any issues especially in the public health setting.

Community-based research can be criticized for its lack of social impact in the ‘real world’. Study findings are often not well understood nor used effectively to shape policy making and practice. These issues are pertinent for practicing social workers who often find it difficult to utilize research knowledge to influence the public realm and engage service users in social change.

Moving on, I wanted to go further in my findings and look upon community-based research within the public health setting such a funding, health equity, and health disparities. The CBR approach has taught me how to better involve those in the research process and how communication is a key aspect when taking part in discussion, receiving and giving feedback. CBR has also shown me the importance of the challenges that are faced throughout different communities and how to develop effective solutions for them. The thesis of this reflection is to understand how to apply CBR by working together in a public health community setting to improve health equity and reduce health disparities.

Resources:

What is Community-based Participatory Research? Collier, Ashley. Jul 14, 2015. https://experiment.com/u/CZebYQ