Leveraging Community Partnerships to Advance Disaster Research Response: A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

In response to concerns about increasing disasters, the NIH created the Disaster Research Response Program (DR2) as “the national framework for research on the medical and public health aspects of disasters and public health emergencies.” We sought to identify perceived facilitators and barriers to community engagement (CE) in DR2 and examine how existing community partnerships can be leveraged to facilitate timely and effective DR2. We conducted key informant interviews with 15 National Institute of Environmental Health Science Environmental Health Science Centers Community Engagement Core (CEC) Directors. Interviews elicited information about current community partnerships and familiarity and experience with DR2. We also explored the possibility of developing a CE response team that could be rapidly deployed to disaster-affected communities to facilitate translational research and CE activities.Interview notes were inductively coded and qualitatively analyzed. Common barriers to CE in DR2 included lack of DR2 experience, complexity of coordinating multiple external research groups, issues related to rapid IRB approval or IRB coordination across institutions, perceived detrimental impacts to well-developed community relationships, and varying expectations and priorities among community groups and researchers. The importance of established working relationships with communities before a disaster occurs was a recurrent theme and emphasizes the important role that CECs and practice-based connections play in DR2. A DR2 CE response team was identified as an opportunity worthy of further exploration.The results of this study will help inform the NIH DR2 program and provide information on how to best quickly and effectively engage community partners when conducting DR2.