Building Community Engagement Capacity in a Transdisciplinary Population Health Research Consortium.

Area of Science:

• Population health research
• Health equity
• Community-engaged research

Background:

• Community engagement is a National Institutes of Health research priority.
• Scholars advocate for community engagement to address racism and equity in science.
• Community-engaged research enhances study quality, inclusion, and real-world impact.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe lessons learned and best practices for community engagement in a multi-institution population health research consortium.
• To outline a staged and stepped process for building and embedding community-engaged research.
• To provide recommendations for other large research consortia.

Main Methods:

• A staged development process: (a) awareness, (b) solidarity building, (c) long-term engagement.
• A stepped process: strategic planning, momentum building, institutionalization, and plan evaluation.
• Transition from informal interactions to systematic, formalized, reciprocal engagement.

Main Results:

• Successful implementation of a multi-level community-engaged research approach.
• Development of a foundation for sustained community engagement within the consortium.
• Identification of challenges and solutions for effective community engagement.

Conclusions:

• Investing time to build community engagement capacity is crucial.
• Acknowledging community strengths and grounding work in anti-racist principles are essential.
• A strong infrastructure for accountability ensures meaningful research translation.