Community-Based Participatory Intervention Research with American Indian Communities: What is the State of the Science?

Jordan B Hearod,Marianna S Wetherill,Alicia L Salvatore,Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan

doi:10.1093/cdn/nzz008

Jordan B Hearod, Marianna S Wetherill + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzz008

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Abstract

ABSTRACTWe conducted a 2-phase systematic review of the literature to examine the nature and outcomes of health research using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach with AI communities to assess both the value and the impact of CBPR, identify gaps in knowledge, and guide recommendations for AI research agendas. Using PRISMA guidelines, we searched the peer-reviewed literature published from 1995 to 2016 and identified and reviewed 42 unique intervention studies. We identified and catalogued key study characteristics, and using the Reliability-Tested Guidelines for Assessing Participatory Research Projects, we quantified adherence to participatory research principles across its four domains. Finally, we examined any association between community participation score and health outcomes. The majority of studies (76.7%) used an observational study design with diabetes, cancer, substance abuse, and tobacco being the most common topics. Half of the articles reported an increase in knowledge as the primary outcome. Our findings suggest that a CBPR orientation yields improved community outcomes. However, we could not conclude that community participation was directly associated with an improvement in health outcomes.

Highlights

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a partnership approach to research that equitably involves both researchers and community members in all aspects of the research process (1)
A number of tribal nations have developed their own Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), and federal funding agencies have increasingly called for a CBPR orientation when conducting research with American Indians (AI) peoples, as noted in 1 recent funding announcement from the NIH, “Interventions for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Native American Populations” (PAR 11-346; PAR 14-260) that called for and cited the importance of a CBPR approach when working with sovereign tribal nations
One of the most comprehensive reviews conducted by Viswathan et al (2004) found that the use of a CBPR orientation was associated with improved research quality and improved community research capacity, but there was insufficient evidence to conclude if a CBPR approach was associated with improved health outcomes or cost savings

Summary

Introduction

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a partnership approach to research that equitably involves both researchers and community members in all aspects of the research process (1). A number of tribal nations have developed their own Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), and federal funding agencies have increasingly called for a CBPR orientation when conducting research with AI peoples, as noted in 1 recent funding announcement from the NIH, “Interventions for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Native American Populations” (PAR 11-346; PAR 14-260) that called for and cited the importance of a CBPR approach when working with sovereign tribal nations. One of the most comprehensive reviews conducted by Viswathan et al (2004) found that the use of a CBPR orientation was associated with improved research quality and improved community research capacity, but there was insufficient evidence to conclude if a CBPR approach was associated with improved health outcomes or cost savings.

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