Building Community Research Capacity to Address Cardiovascular Health Disparities.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Community-Based Participatory Research
• Health Equity

Background:

• Community-academic research partnerships require tools to build capacity for equitable research.
• Effective knowledge and skill translation models are essential for successful collaborations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt an existing model into a curriculum for enhancing cardiovascular health equity research capacity.
• To evaluate the curriculum's impact on community members' engagement in research.

Main Methods:

• Adapted the Michigan Cancer Healthlink model to create a novel curriculum.
• Implemented the curriculum with Black adults to build research capacity.
• Assessed participation in community-engaged research activities post-curriculum.

Main Results:

• The curriculum significantly increased cardiovascular health equity research capacity among Black adults.
• High levels of participation were observed in community-engaged research activities.
• Community members effectively utilized newly acquired skills and knowledge in grant reviews and other activities.

Conclusions:

• The adapted curriculum is an effective, evidence-based tool for building community capacity in health equity research.
• Community-engaged research models can be successfully translated to enhance participation and impact.
• This approach strengthens community-academic partnerships for advancing cardiovascular health equity.