Using Community-Partnered Participatory Research to Value the "Community Lens" and Promote Equity in Community-Academic Partnerships

Hafifa Siddiq; Felica Jones; Zoe Magnes; Juanita Booker-Vaughns; Angela Young-Brinn; Clarence Williams; Madeline Washington; Etsemaye Agonafer; Olga Solomon; Adrian Oliva; Kenneth Wells; MarySue V Heilemann

doi:10.1089/heq.2023.0096

Using Community-Partnered Participatory Research to Value the "Community Lens" and Promote Equity in Community-Academic Partnerships

Health Equity. 2023 Sep 13;7(1):543-554. doi: 10.1089/heq.2023.0096. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hafifa Siddiq^{1

2}, Felica Jones³, Zoe Magnes³, Juanita Booker-Vaughns⁴, Angela Young-Brinn⁴, Clarence Williams³, Madeline Washington³, Etsemaye Agonafer⁵, Olga Solomon^{6

7}, Adrian Oliva³, Kenneth Wells^{8

9

10

11}, MarySue V Heilemann^{11

12}

Affiliations

¹ College of Nursing, Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, USA.
² UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, Los Angeles, California, USA.
³ Healthy African American Families-II, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁴ Community Faculty, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁵ Department of Health System Science, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Pasadena, California, USA.
⁶ USC UCEDD at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁷ Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁸ UCLA Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁹ UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹⁰ Greater Los Angeles VA Health System, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹¹ UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program, David Geffen School of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹² UCLA School of Nursing, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Abstract

Background: Community input is crucial for identifying characteristics necessary for equitable, sustainable community-academic partnerships (CAPs). A November 2021 conference, honoring the late Dr. Loretta Jones and the Community-Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) model, was held to gather input for designing a learning institute for community members as co-equal partners with academics in research, program, and policy initiatives. This created an opportunity to explore attendees' perspectives on challenges and opportunities related to CAPs with special focus on promoting equity.

Methods: Institutional Review Board approval was obtained. Five break-out discussion group sessions were conducted in November 2021 co-facilitated by both an academic and a community leader. After consent, discussions were recorded and transcribed. An iterative procedure for collaborative-group-thematic-analysis was developed. The six-phase process included rigorous coding, discussion, comparison of data with data, and development and refinement of themes and subthemes.

Results: A total of 38 racial-ethnically diverse participants volunteered from the total conference audience of 62 community and academic partners from various sectors including community-based organizations, health care, social services, academia, or policy within Los Angeles County. Analysis led to development of three themes: Being cautious with the extractive tendency of academia and the need for anti-racism within CAPs; Leveraging community power to resist the top-down lens of academia; and bridging two worlds through an equitably structured table.

Discussion: Participants described optimism about the future uses of CPPR to enhance CAPs, and the need to address barriers to equitable partnerships owing to unequal social contexts and entrenched power dynamics. Implications include addressing racism, evaluating financial equity in partnerships to promote accountability, and mentoring community leaders to promote equity.

Conclusion: Use of a "community lens" for developing sustainable, equitable CAPs is crucial to promote accountability and to responsibly implement authentic CPPR.

Keywords: community engagement; community-based participatory research; community-partnered participatory research; community–academic partnerships; equity; health equity.

Grants and funding

R25 MD007610/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States