Annual Report to Stakeholders 2011-2012 - Siteman Cancer Center ...

Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD)
Community Research Fellows Training Program (2012 – present)
Background
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches are often used by
universities to engage community stakeholders and address priority public health
concerns. Engaging community members in the research process is often the missing
link to improving the quality and outcomes of health promotion activities, disease
prevention initiatives and research studies. CBPR is particularly useful for increasing
community research capacity to address a broad array of public health concerns.
Participating in comprehensive evidence-based public health research training can
prepare community members for collaborative work with academic researchers and
empower them as equal partners in the research process.
Overview
The purpose of this project is to promote the role of racial/ethnic and other
underserved populations in the research enterprise by increasing the capacity for
community-based participatory research between researchers at Washington
University in St. Louis, community-based organizations and community health
workers serving the St. Louis Greater Metropolitan area to address health disparities.
This project has three main research goals:
• To enhance community knowledge and understanding of research and create
a pool of trained community members who can serve on Institutional Review
Boards and community research advisory boards. We will recruit a
multidisciplinary faculty and cohort of community fellows to participate in a
semester-long comprehensive public health and research methods training
course for community members adapted from a previous community fellows
training program led by Dr. Melody Goodman.
• To develop community-based participatory research pilot projects that
address health disparities in the St Louis Greater Metropolitan Area. Through
a series of experiential workshops, fellows will learn grant writing, program
evaluation and the IRB process. Fellows that complete the training program
will be eligible to apply for funding in collaboration with Washington University
researchers for CBPR pilot projects in response to the Community Fellows
Request for Proposals (RFP). The RFP will solicit proposals for pilot CBPR
projects that align with the PECaD mission to reduce breast, prostate,
colorectal and lung cancer disparities.
• We will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Community Research
Fellows Training program using semi-structure interviews and quantitative and
qualitative evaluation to assess participant knowledge and satisfaction with
the training program.
26