Abstract
Partnered research may help bridge the gap between research and practice. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) supports collaboration between scientific researchers and community members that is designed to improve capacity, enhance trust, and address health disparities. Systems science aims to understand the complex ways human-ecological coupled systems interact and apply knowledge to management practices. Although CBPR and systems science display complementary principles, only a few articles describe synergies between these 2 approaches. In this article, we explore opportunities to utilize concepts from systems science to understand the development, evolution, and sustainability of 1 CBPR partnership: The Community Health Advocacy and Research Alliance (CHARA). Systems science tools may help CHARA and other CBPR partnerships sustain their core identities while co-evolving in conjunction with individual members, community priorities, and a changing healthcare landscape. Our goal is to highlight CHARA as a case for applying the complementary approaches of CBPR and systems science to (1) improve academic/community partnership functioning and sustainability, (2) ensure that research addresses the priorities and needs of end users, and (3) support more timely application of scientific discoveries into routine practice.
Highlights
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) and systems science offer complementary approaches that are designed to engage stakeholders in co-learning and to facilitate the application of research into routine practice [1,2,3]
BeLue et al suggest that CBPR can “benefit from using system[s] science framework to (a) visualize and specify the complex and dynamic characteristics of problems faced by community residents and (b) identify intervention points and potential “tipping points,” or points at which a community can change from one phase to another” [6]
Community Health Advocacy and Research Alliance (CHARA) has continued to evolve our research priorities to align with the regional Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP)
Summary
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) and systems science offer complementary approaches that are designed to engage stakeholders in co-learning and to facilitate the application of research into routine practice [1,2,3]. CBPR is an approach to research based on equitable involvement of academic and community partners that is designed to improve capacity, enhance trust, and address health disparities [1,4]. Raymaker (2016) and Silka (2010) suggest that systems scientists could benefit from using CBPR principles and considerations for operationalizing equitable stakeholder engagement in the co-creation of research [1,2]. Systems science provides CBPR researchers tools to inform and guide how partnerships change over time, and a set of theories and tools that can help build resilience. CBPR provides systems scientists with the approach needed to build robust, trusting, and mutually beneficial
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