Keeping the Promise of Community-Based Participatory Research: Integrating Applied Critical Rhetorical Methods to Amplify the Community’s Voice for Trial Development

Abstract

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) represents an important improvement in the integration of marginalized voices into research programs by including community members in the designs, conduct, and dissemination of studies. CBPR often features a social justice component, generating studies designed to reduce societal disparities and improve outcomes for disenfranchised groups. However, the practical implementation of CBPR usually fails to capitalize on this promise, using the same traditional research methodologies, leadership structures, trial designs, and research questions that inculcate researcher bias. In response to the problem, we propose a new solution: Applied critical rhetorical research (ACRR) integrated into the CBPR approach to clinical health research. ACRR research combines critical/cultural studies and rhetorical methods to amplify the figurative voice of marginalized populations. ACRR can expose how majority power (i.e., hegemony) manifests in social institutions like healthcare and government, where its meanings and subjectivities are absorbed. ACRR analyses enhance CBPR by shaping research in directions that reduce stigma, unintended disenfranchisement, and culturally bound bias, increasing the yield from CBPR for researchers and the community.