1. Karen Hacker, MD MPH Director
Addressing Community Health Problems Using a Community-based Participatory Approach
Karen Hacker, MD MPH
Director

2. What is community-based participatory research?
CBPR is a collaborative research approach that is designed to ensure and establish structures for participation by communities affected by the issue being studied…in all aspects of the research process to improve health and well-being through taking action, including social change”
Viswanathan M, et al, Community-Based Participatory Research: Assessing the Evidence, AHRQ publication 2004

3. How does it differ from traditional research?

4. Why use CBPR? Addressing disparities requires community engagement
Translational research requires partnerships for action
CBPR helps build capacity
CBPR holds the potential for change
CBPR can enhance community empowerment

5. Principles of CBPR (Barbara Israel)
Acknowledges community as a unit of identify
Builds on strengths and resources within a community
Facilitates a collaborative equitable, partnership in all phases of research involving an empowering and power-sharing process that attends to social inequalities
Fosters co-learning and capacity building among all partners
Integrates and achieves a balance between knowledge generation and intervention for the mutual benefit of all partners
Focuses on the local relevance of public health problems and on ecological perspectives that attend to the multiple determinants of health
Involves systems development using a cyclical and iterative process
Disseminates result to all partners and involves them in the wider dissemination of results
Involves a long-term process and commitment to sustainability.

6. Steps in CBPR
First Stage: Defining the community, engaging the community, community needs assessment, identifying the research question
Second stage: Design/hypothesis testing, roles and responsibilities for conduct of the research
Third stage: Analysis, interpretation and results, dissemination and action

7. The cycle of CBPR

8. Engagement
Who is the community?
How do I engage them?

9. Production of knowledge
Creation of opportunities for all members of a group to make meaningful contributions to the production of knowledge
Knowledge is Power
But, the production of knowledge is always a situated practice
Recognition of knowledge as being the reflection of a partial perspective
Movements seek to broaden the range of people who have access to such opportunities

11. Qualitative and quantitative data
Qualitative is subjective
Generally descriptive, focus groups, interviews
Exploratory in nature
Quantitative is numerical/objective
Used to quantify things
Collected using surveys, systematic studies

12. Applying CBPR principals to public health practice
Does the proposed activity respond to the needs of this community and/or support existing infrastructure or networks?
How will the community members/organizations be involved in the development and implementation of this particular project?
Is there an understanding of the institution’s and community partners’ needs/capacity for development and implementation of planned activities?
What is the community’s role in/expectation regarding the allocation of resources?
How will results be communicated/disseminated?

13. The applications for the Opioid Epidemic in Allegheny County

14. Who are the partners? Organizations Government agencies Families
Prevention Point Pittsburgh
Government agencies
Human Services
Police
Municipal leadership
Families
Users-current and recovering
Coalitions
Providers

15. What do they want to know?
What data is available?
How do you disseminate?
Collaboration for solutions
Action

17. Working with impacted communities

19. Heatmap of Opioid-Related Overdose Fatalities:2015–2016

20. Qualitative research Hillman Grant Interviews with key stakeholders
Rapid translations of findings
Community partners (prevention point, city of Pittsburgh, CONNECT, DHS)

21. Dissemination
Website
Pamphlets
Forums
Dashboard
Reports

22. Overdose Trends

23. Questions?