2021 Community Engagement Studio Virtual Training Summit: Increasing the Diversity of Stakeholders Engaged in...

Area of Science:

• Community-Engaged Research
• Health Disparities Research
• Minority Health

Background:

• Limited methods exist for engaging racial and ethnic minorities in research.
• The Community Engagement Studio (CE Studio) model is a structured approach to facilitate community engagement in research.
• A virtual summit was convened to share the CE Studio model with a focus on minority engagement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To train multi-stakeholder research teams to increase the engagement of racial and ethnic minorities in Community Engagement Studios.
• To disseminate the Community Engagement Studio model through a virtual training summit.

Main Methods:

• Summit planning involved agenda development with CE Studio training and a live demonstration.
• Advertisement targeted networks including minority-serving institutions.
• Pre- and post-summit evaluations assessed participant confidence and planned actions.

Main Results:

• Over 65% of participants planned to increase engagement of racial/ethnic minorities and implement CE Studios.
• Participant confidence significantly increased in conducting planning meetings and identifying stakeholders.
• Confidence in preparing patient/community stakeholders as CE Studio experts rose from 46.4% to 93.6%.

Conclusions:

• Virtual CE Studio training is effective for introducing the model and preparing teams to engage racial and ethnic minorities.
• This training is crucial as effective community-engaged research methods are not disseminated rapidly enough.
• Multi-stakeholder involvement in training enhances the model's applicability for diverse populations.