Experience Of Participatory Research Research Articles

Multifunctional Plants: Ecosystem Services and Undervalued Knowledge of Biocultural Diversity in Rural Communities—Local Initiatives for Agroecological Transition in Chile

With the aim of contributing to the understanding of plants’ multifunctionality for sustainable agroecosystem management, the first part of this paper addresses the importance of functional biodiversity in the design of agroecological systems, including the local context in the generation of situated knowledge. The second part describes three participatory research experiences with local farmers across three locations in Chile. The first experience reports on the use of Dasyphyllum diacanthoides (endemic tree) as fodder. A second experience focuses on the establishment of Rosa spp. (invasive species) as an agroforestry system integrated into the landscape. Both experiences were collaborative efforts with farmer communities of the Andean Mountains in southern Chile. The final experience describes the use of different spontaneous aromatic and medicinal plants through biological corridors to encourage beneficial insects as natural controllers. All three research experiences reveal a lack of knowledge, decontextualization, and undervaluation of the biocultural diversity present in some traditional Chilean agroecosystems.

Barriers to Meaningful Participatory Mental Health Services Research and Priority Next Steps: Findings From a National Survey.

A growing consensus has emerged regarding the importance of stakeholder involvement in mental health services research. To identify barriers to and the extent of stakeholder involvement in participatory research, the authors undertook a mixed-methods study of researchers and community members who reported participation in such research. Eight consultative focus groups were conducted with diverse groups of stakeholders in mental health services research (N=51 unique participants, mostly service users), followed by a survey of service users, family members, community providers, and researchers (N=98) with participatory research experience. Focus groups helped identify facilitators and barriers to meaningful research collaboration, which were operationalized in the national survey. Participants were also asked about high-priority next steps. The barrier most strongly endorsed as a large or very large problem in the field was lack of funding for stakeholder-led mental health services research (76%), followed by lack of researcher training in participatory methods (74%) and insufficiently diverse backgrounds among stakeholders (69%). The two most frequently identified high-priority next steps were ensuring training and continuing education for researchers and stakeholders (33%) and authentically centering lived experience and reducing tokenism in research (26%). These findings suggest a need for increased attention to and investment in the development, implementation, and sustainment of participatory methods that prioritize collaboration with direct stakeholders, particularly service users, in U.S. mental health services research. The findings also underscore the presence and potentially important role of researchers who dually identify as service users and actively contribute a broader orientation from the service user-survivor movement.

'It's really important to be collaborating': Experiences of participatory research for Chinese and Vietnamese parents of autistic children.

Participatory research involves academic partners working together with the community that is affected by research to make decisions about that research. Such approaches often result in research that is more respectful of, and responsive to, community preferences - and is vital in the context of autism research with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Whilst participatory approaches are becoming more commonplace within CALD autism research, no studies have explored the experiences of being involved in autism research from the perspectives of CALD community partners over the course of a study. This paper intended to address this gap by reporting on the experiences of CALD parents of autistic children who were community partners in a 1-year Australian research project exploring home-school partnerships for CALD parents of autistic children. We aimed to: (1) report on how parents' involvement in the research process shaped the home-school partnerships study over time and (2) understand their experiences of being community partners on the home-school partnerships project. Using key principles of participatory approaches, we established Chinese and Vietnamese parent advisory groups to contribute to a project exploring home-school partnerships for parents of autistic children from CALD backgrounds in Australia. Advisory groups included parents of autistic children from Chinese/Vietnamese backgrounds, as well as interpreters, professionals and researchers. We documented how parents' participation as community partners shaped the home-school partnerships study over the course of the project. We also elicited parents' own views and experiences of being community partners through informal, open-ended questions at the beginning and end of the study. We found that parents' input fundamentally shaped the broader home-school partnership study, from meaningful, accurate translation of interview schedules through to making decisions regarding community-specific recommendations and dissemination plans. Parents themselves reported being keen to collaborate and to hear and share opinions for the purpose of the home-school partnership study - although they noted how emotionally difficult sharing their stories could be. While they initially had some concerns about combining being involved as a community partner with their existing responsibilities, ultimately, parents were surprised by the scope of the home-school partnership study and their level of involvement as community partners. Through hearing others' stories and sharing their own in advisory group meetings, parents reported ancillary benefits of their involvement, including increased self-advocacy and well-being. These findings show how research that is conducted in partnership with diverse members of the autism community has the capacity to improve the quality of the research and benefit community partners. This study clearly documents the benefits and potential challenges of participatory approaches with CALD communities. These findings emphasise to researchers and funders the importance of including extra time and money within budgets in order to produce meaningful research that is respectful and responsive to communities.

Are we leaving someone behind? A critical discourse analysis on the understanding of public participation among people with experiences of participatory research.

Participatory research (PR) is on the rise. In Spain, PR is scarce in the field of health, although there is an increasing interest in the matter. A comprehensive understanding of the meanings and practical implications of “public participation” is essential to promote participation in health research. The aim of the study is to explore the discursive positions on PR among individuals with experience in participatory processes in different areas and how this understanding translates into practice. We conducted a critical discourse analysis of 21 individuals with experience in PR and participatory processes (13 women, 8 men), mainly from the field of health and other areas of knowledge. Sixteen were Spanish and the rest were from the United Kingdom (3), United States (1), and Canada (1). Interviews were conducted in person or by telephone. The fieldwork was conducted between March 2019 and November 2019. The dominant discourses on public participation are situated along two axes situated on a continuum: the purpose of public participation and how power should be distributed in public participation processes. The first is instrumental public participation, which sees participatory research as a tool to improve research results and focuses on institutional interests and power-decision making is hold by researchers and institutions. The second, is transformative public participation, with a focus on social change and an equitable sharing of decision-making power between the public and researchers. All discursive positions stated that they do not carry out specific strategies to include the most socially disadvantaged individuals or groups. A shift in the scientific approach about knowledge, along with time and resources, are required to move towards a more balanced power distribution in the processes involving the public.

TRANSLATING THE MULTIACTOR APPROACH TO RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE USING A WORKSHOP APPROACH FOCUSING ON SPECIES MIXTURES

The EIP-Agri multiactor approach was exemplified during a 3-day workshop with 63 project participants from the EU H2020 funded project “Redesigning European cropping systems based on species MIXtures”. The objective was to share firsthand experience of participatory research among researchers who were mostly not familiar with this approach. Workshop participants were divided into smaller multidisciplinary groups and given the opportunity to interact with representatives from eight actor positions in the value chain of the agrifood cooperative Terrena located in Western France. The four stages of the workshop were: (1) key actor interviews, (2) sharing proposed solutions for overcoming barriers, and (3) developing possible interdisciplinary concepts. Expressions of frustration were recorded serving both as a motivation for group members to become more aware of the scientific concerns and practices of their colleagues, as well as a recognition that some researchers have better skills integrating qualitative approaches than others. Nevertheless, the workshop format was an effective way to gain a common understanding of the pertinent issues that need to be addressed to meet overall multiactor-approach objectives. Working with the actor networks was identified and emphasized as a means to overcome existing barriers between academia and practice in order to coproduce a shared vision of the benefits of species mixture benefits.

Traversing rough terrain: methodological challenges of participatory action research among teacher activists

ABSTRACT This purpose of this article is to explore challenges and tensions associated with a participatory action research (PAR) project that occurred in 2019 and involved the author and five teacher activist co-researchers. This article opens with some brief context on the PAR project under focus before specifying the article’s analytical methods. Next, the focus shifts to a longer discussion of several tension-producing aspects of this participatory research experience. These include challenges related to this project’s recruitment process, relationship building, and the author’s attempts to establish credibility within the activist community; tensions related to reflection and action; challenges related to epistemological orientations and facilitation style; and internal conflict and limitations related to the group’s concluding action.

'I'm not just a guinea pig': Academic and community perceptions of participatory autism research.

Participatory research means working together (engaging) with the community that is affected by research to make decisions about that research. Participatory research is common in some fields, but it is still rare in autism research. In this study, we wanted to find out how Australian autism researchers and community members feel about participatory research. We worked with an Autistic Advisory Group to design this study, understand the results and write this article. We asked 127 people, all working on research from the Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism, to complete an online survey about participatory research. The survey included some questions that were answered on rating scales, and some where participants wrote their own answers. Seventy-nine people (64 researchers and 15 community members) completed most or all of the survey. The rating scales showed that most participants (82%) supported moderate or extensive community engagement in research, and most participants (72%) thought there should be more community engagement in autism research. In general, the participants rated their experiences of participatory research positively. Using the participants' own written answers, we found four main ideas: (1) participatory research is important, but difficult; (2) many people do not fully understand what participatory research is; (3) academics and community members do not work together as = and (4) research systems are not designed for participatory research. Our results suggest that autism researchers and community members want to do more participatory research, but they might need training, support and funding to do participatory research well.

Voices of Community Partners: Perspectives Gained from Conversations of Community-Based Participatory Research Experiences.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been documented as an effective approach to research with underserved communities, particularly with racial and ethnic minority groups. However, much of the literature promoting the use of CBPR with underserved communities is written from the perspective of the researchers and not from the perspective of the community partner. The purpose of this article is to capture lessons learned from the community partners’ insight gained through their experiences with CBPR. A multi-investigator consensus method was used to qualitatively code the transcripts of a CBPR story-telling video series. Seven major themes were identified: (1) expectations for engaging in research, (2) cultural humility, (3) respecting the partnership, (4) open communication, (5) genuine commitment, (6) valuing strengths and recognizing capacities, and (7) collaborating to yield meaningful results. The themes drawn from the community partner’s voice align with the tenets of CBPR advanced in the academic literature. More opportunities to include the community voice when promoting CBPR should be undertaken to help introduce the concepts to potential community partners who may be research cautious.

4457 Adopting a Team Science Communication Module for Community-Partnered Teams

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: There is increased recognition that patients and community members are critical to creating impactful research. To this end the UCLA CTSI Community Engagement & Research Program modified an established multidisciplinary team science communication module to train academic-community research teams. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Community partners who have had previous experience in participatory research provided input such as limiting the emphases of individual academic introductions to group icebreakers (to level the playing field), reduced academic jargon to lay language, reducing the amount of text to key principles, and changed academic team scenarios for the team activity to represent community-academic teams. Academic partners articulated institutional barriers to integrating community into institutional systems. Iterative testing and modifications occurred through pilots with eleven teams (49 individuals). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Embedding community partners in team science training involved creating a level playing field with less emphasis on academic credentials, using lay language in the didactic sessions and ensuring accessibility in all aspects of the training. An example of modifications: communication scenarios were read out loud by participants, which community partners felt were not inclusive of potential varying literacy levels and all partners may not feel comfortable reading aloud in a group setting. The vignettes were replaced with short videos of the scenarios with audio recordings. Several modifications were made the training’s team activity of the training module. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Traditional academic team science training required significant modifications for an academic/community-partnered team to allow for optimal collaboration, inclusion, and strategically reduce the power dynamics that can naturally occur. Long-term followup to assess their effectiveness is needed.

The while of participation: A systematic review of participatory research involving people with sensory impairments and/or intellectual impairments

This paper reports on the first systematic review of literature associated with participatory research involving people identified with sensory impairments and/or intellectual impairments. It was initiated as part of ARCHES, an European Union-funded heritage project. The review sought to examine processes and activities used for organising participatory research involving people identified with sensory and/or intellectual impairments. 54 papers were included, involving studies from 14 countries and varying numbers of participants across different time scales. Insights were gained into use of advisory groups, organisation and support, collecting and analysing data, sharing findings and activity types. Emergent themes enabled an identification of the while of participation. The while represents the tensions, outcomes and component parts which are evident within the multiple moments that span an experience of participatory research. Participation is not about types of activity but how any activity is undertaken.

A Participatory Research Experience on the Introduction of Mungbean and Short Duration Aman Rice as Summer Crops in the Char Lands of Northern Bangladesh

A Participatory Research Experience on the Introduction of Mungbean and Short Duration Aman Rice as Summer Crops in the Char Lands of Northern Bangladesh

Ethics and Science in the Participatory Era: A Vignette-Based Delphi Study.

Participatory researchers rely on relationship-based ethical considerations to address ethical challenges, but little is known about how these considerations shape day-to-day decision-making. We presented vignettes describing ethical dilemmas to health researchers with varying degrees of experience in participatory research in an online modified-Delphi panel. Panelists rated potential solutions to dilemmas and provided rationales for choosing solutions in text boxes and discussion boards. Panelists agreed on a preferred solution for three of five vignettes. Panelists indicated that ethical research decision-making should be inclusive of diverse perspectives. Panelists prioritized scientific goals above participatory ones and viewed tenets of scientific validity as value-free. Panelists indicated that participatory research ethics would be difficult to codify, but that vignette-based learning could support didactic objectives.

A Reality of Participatory Research Experience with People with Iatrogenic HIV as a Nursing Scientist

A Reality of Participatory Research Experience with People with Iatrogenic HIV as a Nursing Scientist

Uma contribuição à ciência pós-normal: aplicações e desafios da ampliação da comunidade de pares em contextos socioambientais e de saúde

GIATTI, L. L. A contribution to the post-normal science. Applications and challenges for the extended peer community in socio-environmental and health contexts [associate professorship thesis]. Sao Paulo: Faculdade de Saude Publica/USP; 2013. Socio-environmental issues of high impact on human health are attuning intensely to contemporary transitions and dilemmas, also in respect of the classic science, in ways of backing political decisions. This context asks for the participation of the subjects of risks in the production and control of the quality of knowledge, as well as in the processes of governance by means of the increasing scale of uncertainties and decision stakes. As a starting point there is this experience in participatory research in indigenous land, in the Brazilian Amazon, which is being used in this thesis as a critical evaluation of different aspects of research and intervention projects, focusing on socioenvironmental and health contexts. Conjoining the presuppositions of the post-normal science, a classification of selected articles, through a systematic review on the theme, was made, categorizing aspects of the application of participatory instruments, scales of approach and functionality of the described experiences. Among the 170 selected articles, only 10 represented de highest grade of participatory dialogic by means of cyclic combinations of instruments and focus on emerging phenomena. All the others performed very successful participations, although not representing a perspective of sustainability, once they didn’t converse with prospective future scenarios and/or didn’t offer means of connection by global-local dynamics, which are constant inductors of risk reproduction. By means of the panorama offered by the bibliographic review, it was possible to identify that a new paradigm of relations between science, society and politics is just beginning.

PHOTO INTERVIEWS WITH CHILDREN: RELATING THE VISUAL AND THE VERBAL FROM A PARTICIPATION PERSPECTIVE

The integration of visual prompts into qualitative interviews is regarded as a useful tool in attempting to give children the possibility of verbalizing memories and describing abstract issues. Furthermore, photo interviews are supposed to promote children’s participatory research experiences. Less attention has been paid to how visual and verbal elements may be interrelated throughout the research process. Drawing on data from an Austrian empirical study with 50 children aged 10 years, the objective of this paper is to describe the combination of visual and verbal data in detail. Special emphasis is put on identifying factors that influence children’s participation. The potential and limitations of photo interviews as a participative method of conducting research with children are elaborated. Although this approach does not per se decrease power differentials, enhance participation, or respect children’s agency, it has a high potential to facilitate such action, if applied carefully, critically, and conscientiously.

Uncertainty of, and stakeholder response to, emerging technologies: food nanotechnology in Japan

Food nanotechnologies pose a number of difficulties in risk assessment and risk man- agement, such as data collection, definition, and classification of materials. There is no clear con- sensus as to what is to be regulated and who would be involved in the area of food nanotech. In this paper, I have described how stakeholders respond to various uncertainties related to food nanotechnologies, and tried to elucidate the dynamic nature of uncertainties and societal stakes that occurred during negotiations among various stakeholders in the case of food nanotechnolo- gies in Japan. Three ways taken by stakeholders to respond to these situations were analyzed based on the experiences of participatory research. These are: (1) trying to reconstruct uncertainty while the stakes are regarded as given, (2) trying to reconstruct stakes while the uncertainty is regarded as given, and (3) trying to reconstruct uncertainty and stake at the same time. I conclude with a discussion of some ethical implications for stakeholder identification and dealing with uncertainty.

Important aspects and limitations in considering community-based breeding programs for low-input smallholder livestock systems

Many smallholder breeding programs in developing countries failed because of neglecting basic conditions, particularly the no involvement of farmers in a participatory manner from design to the implementation phase of the programs. Inadequate centralized breeding plans to improve local breeds and various plans prescribing crossbreeding with European highly producing breeds, failed. Though some nucleus breeding programs were successful and attained some sustainability if the farmers’ participation was considered, they still are vulnerable once the funding provided ends. An evolving approach, emerging from participatory research experiences, involves community-based breeding programs for smallholder farmers in low-input systems. These are being implemented in pilot research sites with promising results and already rendering lessons learned that merit consideration in relation with the sustainability of a program. The paper discusses important factors for the success of these programs. Farmers’ participation along with main issues for program implementation are highlighted in relation to site selection, the communication processes, recording schemes, role of scientists, the institutionalisation of cooperation and the enabling environment. Finally, ongoing case studies of successful community-based breeding programs are mentioned. Shortcomings in farmers’ participation require attention and institutional strengthening for effective application of participatory tools and knowledge exchange between farmers and researchers. But participatory research alone is not the sole prescription for success. No matter how participatory the plans will be, they will always depend on technical support and institutional support for data collection, analysis and feedback. This is hindered because of the short-term projection of funding for research projects. An important issue relates to the out scaling of successful experiences at project level that benefits only a limited number of farmers. The only avenue to guarantee sustainability is that government priorities (local or national) emphasize community-based breeding as a viable alternative for smallholder improvement on a long-term basis, and development and appropriate policies provide the enabling environment for realization and adoption at a large scale. Under these conditions research will have an advisory and facilitating role whereas ownership of the program will go to the community-level.

Learning in the Field: Using Community Self Studies to Strengthen Forest‐Based Social Movements

AbstractState devolution has combined with social movement pressures to give communities increasing access and rights to southern forests, making development of effective local participation in sustainable resource management crucial. This paper discusses an experience of participatory research in Central America, which sought to help two grassroots forest organizations, the Association of Forest Communities of Petén, Guatemala and the Farmer to Farmer Programme of Siuna, Nicaragua, to respond to new organizational and political challenges by developing their internal capacity for research and analysis. Community‐based ‘para‐professional’ social researchers were trained to carry out studies of their communities' experiences with natural resource management, including strengths, problems and possible response strategies. The collaborative research initiative also encountered problems of inequality, uneven education and skills and concerns with validity. The results of this experience indicate that with appropriate support, community‐based research and researchers can help engender collective reflection, strengthen local organizational capacity and contribute knowledge and analysis in support of forest community movements' efforts to promote local resource rights and more sustainable development. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Community Landscape Planning for Rural Areas: A Model for Biocultural Resource Management

We propose a theoretical model for resource management in the tropics that includes biological and cultural aspects, called the Biocultural Resource Management Model. The model is a strategy for co-responsible landscape planning that could be implemented in rural areas with local populations as the drivers of conservation, restoration, and management of natural resources. It comprises different units of production and management conservation levels and outlines the social and environmental aspects. The model was derived from a 10-year working experience in Mexico through the nongovernmental organization Programa de Acción Forestal Tropical (PROAFT) and the evaluation of 24 management conservation projects, from 20 different organizations and 1421 participants. The model takes into account PROAFT's evaluation regarding the successful participatory research experiences that enhanced diversification of agroecosystems and social organization. We propose and discuss a strategy and the challenges for the model implementation and its further evaluation in rural Mexican communities.

Eight Years of Building Community Partnerships and Trust: The UCLA Family Medicine Community-Based Participatory Research Experience

Acknowledging the growing disparities in health and health care that exist among immigrant families and minority populations in large urban communities, the UCLA Department of Family Medicine (DFM) sought a leadership role in the development of family medicine training and community-based participatory research (CBPR). Performing CBPR requires that academic medicine departments build sustainable and long-term community partnerships. The authors describe the eight-year (2000-2008) process of building sustainable community partnerships and trust between the UCLA DFM and the Sun Valley community, located in Los Angeles County.The authors used case studies of three research areas of concentration (asthma, diabetes prevention, and establishing access to primary care) to describe how they established community trust and sustained long-term community research partnerships. In preparing each case study, they used an iterative process to review qualitative data.Many lessons were common across their research concentration areas. They included the importance of (1) having clear and concrete community benefits, (2) supporting an academic-community champion, (3) political advocacy, (4) partnering with diverse organizations, (5) long-term academic commitment, and (6) medical student involvement. The authors found that establishing a long-term relationship and trust was a prerequisite to successfully initiate CBPR activities that included an asthma school-based screening program, community walking groups, and one of the largest school-based primary care clinics in the United States.Their eight-year experience in the Sun Valley community underscores how academic-community research partnerships can result in benefits of high value to communities and academic departments.