Abstract
Community engagement is a critical component of translational research. Innovative educational approaches to support meaningful involvement of stakeholders in clinical research allows for bidirectional learning and greater engagement in translational efforts. Our Penn State Community-Engaged Research Core (CeRC) team has developed an innovative research curriculum for a variety of stakeholders, including patient partners, organizational representatives, and Community Health Workers (CHWs). This brief report will outline unique curricular approaches, guided by adult learning principles, to enhance stakeholder education and engagement in activities. Initial evidence of impact on learning is also reported.
Highlights
Engaging nontraditional partners throughout the research process can further research priorities, enhance methodology, and accelerate translation to inform policy and practice and reduce disparities [1,2,3]
Community Health Workers have a proven track record of improving health outcomes, for underserved populations, in a variety of community-based interventions [12,13]. Because of their intimate connections with the community, CHWs hold the potential to serve as liaisons between investigators and target populations in Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR)
There remain several barriers preventing CHWs from engaging in PCOR, including: (1) lack of PCOR training in CHW certification programs, (2) lack of systems to connect CHWs with investigators interested in community-engaged research, and (3) recently, challenges associated with CHWs shifting to virtual work due to the COVID-19 pandemic [15]
Summary
The AHeaD with CHWs in COVID-19 project team adapted Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation (reaction, learning, impact, results) [20] to evaluate the CHW virtual community engagement training. In the PaTH to Health: Diabetes study, stakeholders had the opportunity to participate in yearly quantitative and qualitative evaluations assessing the breadth of engagement activities, including education offerings, from the prior project period This data helped elucidate the effectiveness of the research team’s involvement of stakeholders and of training and other engagement strategies as enhancements to stakeholder contributions to the project. Immediate post-training survey results (n = 15) using paired sample t-tests, there were statistically significant increases in reported knowledge of and confidence in virtual community engagement strategies, COVID-19 resources, motivational interviewing methods, and myth-busting techniques (Table 2). Participants who completed the 1 month post-training evaluation (n = 13) reported that they used the motivational interviewing techniques and community engagement strategies in their work (mean 4.54 ± 0.88; mean 4.62 ± 0.51, respectively) They reported increased confidence in utilizing myth-busting strategies (mean 4.85 ± 0.38), an important skill given the multitude of misinformation creating barriers to health during a pandemic. Several stakeholders participated in scientific communications, including presenting updates at network meetings and serving as co-authors on study publications
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