Principles of Community Engagement (Second Edition)

These challenges do not compare, however, with those created by the histori-
cal exploitation of residents in some of these communities In the Southwest,
where research has too often been conducted in an exploitative manner with-
out the consent and participation of the community, it is extremely difficult
to develop partnerships between rural communities and researchers Many
American Indian and Hispanic communities throughout the Southwest have
been the subjects of research conducted by persons living outside the community
who did not engage residents and their communities in the research
In one multisite study with tribal groups across the United States that began
in the 1990s, researchers at the University of New Mexico PRC and at four
other universities were confronted with the challenge of overcoming the
mistrust of seven tribal communities that had either experienced exploitation
or heard of examples
Action Steps
Together, the partners
established and maintained the
bidirectional trust necessary
to develop and implement a
successful intervention.
Despite the history of violated trust, the PRC was able to develop appropriate
and meaningful partnerships between researchers and tribal communities
Together, the partners established and maintained the bidirectional trust
necessary to develop and implement a successful intervention
They used a variety of participation strategies to achieve trust For
example, local customs and cultural constructs were considered in
formulating the intervention, local advisory councils were formed,
elders were included as advisors, local community members were
hired, formative assessment was conducted to determine the feasibility
and acceptability of the proposed prevention strategies in local
terms, approval was sought from tribal and local review boards,
and local priorities were determined Participation, feedback, and
collaborative relationships were crucial to engaging these underrepresented
communities with a history of exploitation And yet, perhaps
the most important and most basic strategy was to demonstrate respect and
inclusion to the fullest extent possible
Take-Home Messages
• Recognize that there may be a history of exploitation in the community
and therefore a distrust of research and researchers
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