Digital Animation as a Method to Disseminate Research Findings to the Community Using a Community-Based Participatory Approach

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has garnered increasing interest over the previous two decades as researchers have tackled increasingly complex health problems. In academia, professional presentations and articles are major ways that research is disseminated. However, dissemination of research findings to the people and communities who participated in the research is many times forgotten. In addition, little scholarly literature is focused on creative dissemination of research findings to the community using CBPR methods. We seek to fill this gap in the literature by providing an exemplar of research dissemination and partnership strategies that were used to complete this project. In this paper, we present a novel approach to the dissemination of research findings to our targeted communities through digital animation. We also provide the foundational thinking and specific steps that were taken to select this specific dissemination product development and distribution strategy.     

Use of Community-Based Participatory Research Methods in Adults' Health Assessment

Since adults 18 to 64 years of age represent the fastest growing population, we conducted a community assessment to assess health status, chronic disease prevalence, health behaviors, utilization of health screenings, and access to health care. A total of 450 adults completed a 56-item assessment on quality of life. Prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes were higher than Healthy People 2010 targets. Respondents reported poor health behaviors, such as a lack of physical activity. Data from this community assessment will be used for program development and to obtain funding.     

Developing Measures of Community-Relevant Outcomes for Violence Prevention Programs: A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach to Measurement

Community-Based Participatory Research is a research paradigm that encourages community participation in designing and implementing evaluation research, though the actual outcome measures usually reflect the “external” academic researchers’ view of program effect and the policy-makers’ needs for decision-making. This paper describes a replicable process by which existing standardized psychometric scales commonly used in youth-related intervention programs were modified to measure indicators of program success defined by community partners. This study utilizes a secondary analysis of data gathered in the context of a community-based youth violence prevention program. Data were retooled into new measures developed using items from the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire, the Hare Area Specific Self-Esteem Scale, and the Youth Asset Survey. These measures evaluated two community-defined outcome indicators, “More Parental Involvement” and “Showing Kids Love.” Results showed that existing scale items can be re-organized to create measures of community-defined outcomes that are psychometrically reliable and valid. Results also show that the community definitions of parent or parenting caregivers exemplified by the two indicators are similar to how these constructs have been defined in previous research, but they are not synonymous. There are nuanced differences that are important and worthy of better understanding, in part through better measurement.     

Community Mobilization and Community-Based Participatory Research to Prevent Youth Violence Among Asian and Immigrant Populations

Many community mobilization activities for youth violence prevention involve the researchers assisting communities in identifying, adapting, and/or tailoring evidence-based programs to fit the community needs, population, and cultural and social contexts. This article describes a slightly different framework in which the collaborative research/evaluation project emerged from the community mobilization activities. As will be discussed, this collaborative, sustained partnership was possible in the context of the Center on Culture, Immigration and Youth Violence Prevention's (UC Berkeley ACE) community mobilization activities that brought the issue of youth violence, particularly among immigrant and minority populations, to the forefront of many of the community partners' agendas. The East Bay Asian Youth Center (EBAYC) was one of the partners that came to the table, which facilitated the community-based engagement/mobilization. UC Berkeley ACE collaborated with EBAYC to evaluate an after-school program and an alternative probation program serving a diverse youth and immigrant population, including African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. This article describes UC Berkeley ACE's community mobilization activity and the collaborative partnership with EBAYC, discusses how the evaluations incorporated community-based principles in design and practice, and presents some findings from the evaluations.     

Parental Engagement and Barriers to Participation in a Community-Based Preventive Intervention

This study examined parent characteristics and barriers to participation in a community-based preventive intervention with a sample of 201 parents from low-income and predominantly ethnic minority backgrounds. Person-centered analyses revealed five subgroups of parents who demonstrated variability in their parent characteristics, which included psychological resources and level of parental involvement in education. Group membership was associated with differences in school involvement and use of the psychoeducational intervention at home, after accounting for the number of barriers to engagement. For the intervention attendance variable, greater number of barriers was associated with decreased attendance only for parents in the resilient subgroup and the psychologically distressed subgroup. Attendance remained constant across levels of barriers for the other three subgroups of parents. The results of the study inform theory and practice regarding how to tailor preventive interventions to accommodate subgroups of parents within populations that experience barriers to accessing mental health services.     

Participatory Organizational Change in Community-Based Health and Human Services: From Tokenism to Political Engagement

Community psychologists have long worked with community-based human service organizations to build participatory processes. These efforts largely aim at building participatory practices within the current individual-wellness paradigm of human services. To address collective wellness, human service organizations need to challenge their current paradigm, attend to the social justice needs of community, and engage community participation in a new way, and in doing so become more openly political. We use qualitative interviews, focus groups, organizational documents, and participant observation to present a comparative case study of two organizations involved in such a process through an action research project aimed at transforming the organizations’ managerial and practice paradigm from one based on first-order, ameliorative change to one that promotes second-order, transformative change via strength-based approaches, primary prevention, empowerment and participation, and focuses on changing community conditions. Four participatory tensions or dialectics are discussed: passive versus active participation, partners versus clients, surplus powerlessness versus collective efficacy, and reflection/learning versus action/doing.     

An Ethical Imperative: Effectively Reducing SGM Disparities Utilizing a Multi-Level Intervention Approach

Health disparities for sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations are well documented and manifest systemically. Mental health professionals have begun working to address these disparities, demonstrating efforts to more effectively define and increase competency in SGM health and by adapting existing evidence-based interventions to more effectively target the unique needs of the SGM community. While such efforts are necessary, they inadequately address the systemic nature of the problem, placing an unnecessary burden on SGM individuals to tolerate systemic discrimination, injustice, and inequality. The current special series attempts to address this gap by featuring papers that describe multilevel (e.g., micro, mezzo, macro) intervention approaches to reduce SGM health disparities. We argue that advocacy is inherent to the work, and we hope that this special series will empower mental health professionals to engage in multilevel, systemic interventions as an ethical imperative.     

Association of Depressive Symptomatology and Elder Mistreatment in a U.S. Chinese Population: Findings From a Community-Based Participatory Research Study

Elder mistreatment (EM) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study is to examine the association between depressive symptoms and EM in a U.S. Chinese population. A community-based participatory research approach was implemented to partner with the Chicago Chinatown population. Self-reported EM was assessed using a modified Vulnerability to Abuse Screening Scale instrument. Depressive symptomatology was assessed using the short form Geriatric Depression Scale. Exact logistic regression was used to assess these associations. Of the 78 participants, mean age was 74.8 (SD = 7.8) years and 52.6% were women. EM was reported in 20.5% of participants. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, higher numbers of depressive symptoms were independently associated with increased risk of EM (Exact OR, 1.99, 95% CI [1.23, 3.41]). Interaction terms analyses suggest that higher educational levels might buffer the risk of EM associated with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings in this U.S. Chinese population.     

Organizational Cultural Competency: Shifting Programs for Latino Immigrants from a Client-Centered to a Community-Based Orientation

This paper discusses how the organizational cultural competency of social service agencies may be improved by shifting the philosophy of service delivery from a client-centered to a community-based orientation. This analysis is based on two years of fieldwork and interviews that were conducted as part of an action research project initially developed to increase the number of certified Spanish speaking Latino family childcare providers and knowledge about Latino immigrant families in the Midwest. In developing a culturally-specific certification program in Spanish, both the Latino participants and the bilingual program director challenged the agency to consider how the social context and social location of its participants required a more holistic community approach.     

Indigenizing CBPR: Evaluation of a Community-Based and Participatory Research Process Implementation of the Elluam Tungiinun (Towards Wellness) Program in Alaska

The process that community based participatory research (CBPR) implementation takes in indigenous community contexts has serious implications for health intervention outcomes and sustainability. An evaluation of the Elluam Tungiinun (Towards Wellness) Project aimed to explore the experience of a Yup'ik Alaska Native community engaged within a CBPR process and describe the effects of CBPR process implementation from an indigenous community member perspective. CBPR is acknowledged as an effective strategy for engaging American Indian and Alaska Native communities in research process, but we still know very little about the experience from a local, community member perspective. What are the perceived outcomes of participation in CBPR from a local, community member perspective? Qualitative methods were used to elicit community member perspectives of participation in a CBPR process engaged with one Yup'ik community in southwest Alaska. Results focus on community member perceptions of CBPR implementation, involvement in the process and partnership, ownership of the project with outcomes observed and perceived at the community, family and individual levels, and challenges. A discussion of findings demonstrates how ownership of the intervention arose from a translational and indigenizing process initiated by the community that was supported and enhanced through the implementation of CBPR. Community member perspectives of their participation in the research reveal important process points that stand to contribute meaningfully to implementation science for interventions developed by and for indigenous and other minority and culturally diverse peoples.     

Enabling Action: Reflections upon Inclusive Participatory Research on Health with Women with Disabilities in the Philippines

People with disabilities experience health disparities arising from social, environmental, and system-level factors. Evidence from a range of settings suggests women with disabilities have reduced access to health information and experience barriers to screening, prevention, and care services. This results in greater unmet health needs, particularly in relation to sexual and reproductive health. Women with disabilities are also more likely to experience physical and sexual violence than women without disabilities, further undermining their health. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) can generate knowledge and underpin action to address such health disparities and promote health equity. However, the potential and challenges of disability inclusion in CBPR, particularly in contexts of poverty and structural inequality such as those found in low- and middle-income countries, are not well documented. In this paper, we reflect on our experience of implementing and evaluating W-DARE, a three-year program of disability-inclusive CBPR aiming to increase access to sexual and reproductive health and violence-response services for women with disabilities in the Philippines. We discuss strategies for increasing disability inclusion in research and use a framework of reflexive solidarity to consider the uneven distribution of the benefits, costs, and responsibilities for action arising from the W-DARE program.     

An Intervention to Help Community-Based Organizations Implement an Evidence-Based HIV Prevention Intervention: The Mpowerment Project Technology Exchange System

Considerable resources have been spent developing and rigorously testing HIV prevention intervention models, but such models do not impact the AIDS pandemic unless they are implemented effectively by community-based organizations (CBOs) and health departments. The Mpowerment Project (MP) is being implemented by CBOs around the US. It is a multilevel, evidence-based HIV prevention program for young gay/bisexual men that targets individual, interpersonal, social, and structural issues by using empowerment and community mobilization methods. This paper discusses the development of an intervention to help CBOs implement the MP called the Mpowerment Project Technology Exchange System (MPTES); CBOs’ uptake, utilization and perceptions of the MPTES components; and issues that arose during technical assistance. The seven-component MPTES was provided to 49 CBOs implementing the MP that were followed longitudinally for up to two years. Except for the widely used program manual, other program materials were used early in implementing the MP and then their use declined. In contrast, once technical assistance was proactively provided, its usage remained constant over time, as did requests for technical assistance. CBOs expressed substantial positive feedback about the MPTES, but felt that it needs more focus on diversity issues, describing real world implementation approaches, and providing guidance on how to adapt the MP to diverse populations.     

People Awakening: Collaborative Research to Develop Cultural Strategies for Prevention in Community Intervention

The consequences of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and suicide create immense health disparities among Alaska Native people. The People Awakening project is a long-term collaboration between Alaska Native (AN) communities and university researchers seeking to foster health equity through development of positive solutions to these disparities. These efforts initiated a research relationship that identified individual, family, and community protective factors from AUD and suicide. AN co-researchers next expressed interest in translating these findings into intervention. This led to development of a strengths-based community intervention that is the focus of the special issue. The intervention builds these protective factors to prevent AUD and suicide risk within AN youth, and their families and communities. This review provides a critical examination of existing literature and a brief history of work leading to the intervention research. These work efforts portray a shared commitment of university researchers and community members to function as co-researchers, and to conduct research in accord with local Yup’ik cultural values. This imperative allowed the team to navigate several tensions we locate in a convergence of historical and contemporary ecological contextual factors inherent in AN tribal communities with countervailing constraints imposed by Western science.     

Partnership-Based, Community-Assisted Early Intervention for Literacy: An Application of the Participatory Intervention Model

Many schools, particularly those in low-income, urban neighborhoods serving children from diverse backgrounds, have a high percentage of students with literacy deficits and limited resources for providing remedial services. Addressing these needs requires the use of empirically supported reading intervention strategies and expanding the availability of qualified persons to implement these approaches. Just as importantly, students need to be educated in a culturally meaningful context by one or more individuals who are committed to addressing their educational, emotional, and social needs. One method of expanding the instructional work force and engaging students in attachments with caring adults in a culturally relevant context is to establish a community-assisted tutoring program, that is a program implemented by residents from the community who work in the school. This article describes the process of establishing a partnership-based, community-assisted early intervention program for literacy, based upon a participatory intervention model, by presenting two case illustrations. Challenges for school consultants in establishing such a program in schools are described and directions for future research and practice are outlined.     

Happy Family Kitchen: Behavioral Outcomes of a Brief Community-Based Family Intervention in Hong Kong

Positive psychology interventions commonly involve behavioral exercises to improve psychosocial well-being. Intervention effect on behavior is unclear. The Happy Family Kitchen project, one of the community-based brief intervention projects under The FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society, was conducted in Hong Kong to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a positive psychology family intervention. We have previously reported positive intervention effects on family communication, family well-being, and subjective happiness. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of the intervention on behavioral outcomes and their associations with psychosocial well-being. A total of 23 social service units organized and conducted intervention programs for 1419 individuals from 612 families in Hong Kong. Each intervention was developed with emphasis on one of five positive psychology themes: gratitude, flow, happiness, health, and savoring. Intervention outcomes were assessed at pre-intervention, immediate post-intervention, and 6 weeks and 12 weeks post-intervention. Results showed that family communication time and frequency of meal preparation with family members increased with sustainable small effects up to 12 weeks. Theme-specific behavior change was observed in the gratitude, flow, and happiness interventions, respectively. Family communication time, frequency of eating with family members, and theme-specific behaviors, including gratitude, flow, happiness behavior, health attitude, and health behavior, were positively associated with psychosocial well-being. Qualitative data provided additional evidence of effectiveness with in-depth insights into behavior change. The positive associations between target behaviors and well-being suggest that improvements in well-being as a function of the intervention may be associated with behavior change.     

Tribal Participatory Research: Mechanisms of a Collaborative Model

Although much social science research has been conducted within American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities, relatively little research has been conducted by or for those communities. We describe an approach that facilitates the active involvement of AIAN communities in the research process, from conceptualizing the issues to be investigated to developing a research design, and from collecting, analyzing, and interpreting the data to disseminating the results. The Tribal Participatory Research (TPR) approach is consistent with recent developments in psychology that emphasize the inclusion of community members and the social construction of knowledge. We describe the foundations of the approach and present specific mechanisms that can be employed in collaborations between researchers and AIAN communities. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the use of TPR regarding project timelines and budgets, interpretation of the data, and ultimately the relationships between tribes and researchers.