From knowledge to action: Participatory research methods to create an action plan for healthier communities

Area of Science:

• Community-based participatory research (CBPR)
• Knowledge translation
• Health equity

Background:

• Traditional research often faces a significant gap between knowledge generation and its practical implementation.
• Community-based participatory research (CBPR) offers a solution by enhancing research validity, relevance, and knowledge translation effectiveness.
• CBPR can shape research, policy, and programming agendas, guiding funder and policymaker priorities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the methodology of a community-engaged CBPR action planning process.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of this CBPR approach in closing the knowledge-to-implementation gap.
• To explore strategies for enhancing resilience and well-being in families experiencing adversity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized findings from a mixed-methods study on family adversity and resilience (Phase 1).
• Incorporated extensive community consultation with over 250 members.
• Employed a CBPR team (4 academic, 4 community researchers, 1 manager) for adapted reflexive thematic analysis.

Main Results:

• Over 250 community members contributed to 11 meetings, generating over 200 action items.
• Collaborative organization resulted in 20 final topic areas/themes.
• Multimodal knowledge translation (infographics, websites, policy briefs) disseminated findings to stakeholders.

Conclusions:

• CBPR effectively engaged community members in setting policy, program, and research priorities for adversity-affected populations.
• Decision-makers showed interest, integrating findings into funding applications and policy documents.
• CBPR fostered trust and partnerships, leading to requests for research training and collaborations.