Women Specific Community Based Research Shari Margolese

Conflict declaration I have no conflicts of interest

Women Specific-Community Based Research Trend towards community-based research (CBR) in Canada to include the meaningful involvement of people living HIV in research projects. The CIHR HIV/AIDS CBR Program “supports research that engages communities in all stages of research, from the definition of the research question, to capacity building and integration of community members in conducting research, to active participation in disseminating research results”. Some models for practicing HIV-CBR...however none address the specific needs of women living with HIV. For these reasons the development of a women-specific CBR model has begun

The education component: Educational workshops designed by and delivered to Women living with HIV and other community members on topics including: principles of research, steps of research, grant and protocol writing, ethics board submission, quantitative and qualitative analysis, manuscript writing, knowledge translation (KT) and career counselling. Academics and research students are invited to teaching sessions delivered by women with HIV to improve their understanding of women and HIV research priorities and ethical considerations.

The execution component: Builds on the educational phase of the program and intends to employ the meaningful involves of women on research teams including: co-principal investigators, co-investigators, committee members,peer research assistants, advisory board members, data analysis, manuscript and abstract preparation and presentation.

The consultancy component: Builds on the execution phase of the program by hiring and reimbursing women living with HIV as consultants for their expertise

Barriers and Facilitators to MIWA barriers exist to participation beyond that of peer research assistants, CAB members and research participants. compared to researchers and frontline services providers, people living with HIV tend to be the least involved in all stages of CBR projects, particularly in rural communities. barriers to the meaningful involvement of people living with HIV include: HIV-related stigma; health-related challenges; "credentialism"; lack of capacity to engage in research; other issues taking priority; mistrust of researchers; power imbalance. Facilitating factors included valuing lived experience; training and mentoring opportunities; financial compensation; trust building; and accommodating PLWH’s needs.

Facilitating factors Facilitating factors include: valuing lived experience; training and mentoring opportunities; financial compensation; trust building; and accommodating PLWH’s needs.

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