Community engagement in research: frameworks for education and peer review.
Community engagement in research may enhance a community's ability to address its own health needs and health disparities issues while ensuring that researchers understand community priorities. However, there are researchers with limited understanding of and experience with effective methods of engaging communities. Furthermore, limited guidance is available for peer-review panels on evaluating proposals for research that engages communities. The National Institutes of Health Director's Council of Public Representatives developed a community engagement framework that includes values, strategies to operationalize each value, and potential outcomes of their use, as well as a peer-review framework for evaluating research that engages communities. Use of these frameworks for educating researchers to create and sustain authentic community-academic partnerships will increase accountability and equality between the partners.
Ahmed
Syed M
SM
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Center for Healthy Communities, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 53226-0509, USA. sahmed@mcw.edu
Palermo
Ann-Gel S
AG
D026683:Advisory Committees; D003142:Communication; D003256:Community Participation; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D017145:Models, Educational; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D017712:Peer Review, Research / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011209:Power, Psychological; D024382:Professional Role; D016730:Program Development; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D014481:United States