Developing a toolkit for engagement practice: sharing power with communities in priority-setting for global health...

Area of Science:

• Global Health Research Ethics
• Community-Based Participatory Research
• Health Equity

Background:

• Community engagement is crucial for relevant global health research, but power imbalances can lead to tokenistic involvement.
• Limited ethical guidance exists for sharing power with disadvantaged communities in research priority-setting.
• This paper addresses the need for robust ethical frameworks to ensure genuine community participation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive, empirically-based ethical toolkit for equitable power-sharing in global health research priority-setting.
• To strengthen a previously proposed checklist by incorporating new insights on power dynamics and community engagement.
• To place community engagement and power-sharing at the core of global health research project planning.

Main Methods:

• A two-part methodology combining conceptual analysis of empirical data and empirical feedback.
• Conceptual analysis identified additional components and features influencing participation and voice in priority-setting.
• Feedback was gathered through interviews with researchers, ethicists, practitioners, and community organization staff on an initial toolkit version.

Main Results:

• Identified two additional engagement components and six features impacting who defines, participates, and is heard in research priority-setting.
• Articulated new ethical considerations for power-sharing in global health research based on these findings.
• Incorporated interviewee suggestions to revise the toolkit's content and language for practical application.

Conclusions:

• A comprehensive ethical toolkit, including three worksheets and a companion guide, has been developed as a reflective planning aid.
• The toolkit facilitates collective discussion among researchers and community partners before priority-setting.
• It covers all phases of priority-setting, offering a more thorough approach than previous versions.