Harm Reduction Research Lab, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2024 Jul;43(5):1049-1061. doi: 10.1111/dar.13764. Epub 2023 Oct 23.
Structural aspects of community-engaged research are not well measured yet have critical implications for community research empowerment. This is particularly so with people who use drugs. We introduce the Structural Indicators of Community-Based Participatory Action Research (SI-CBPAR) to measure structural indicators of community-research entity relationships.
A three-phased process of iterative development, feasibility and applicability assessment was used to examine the instrument with community-engaged studies as a first stage of instrument development. The development team included people with university, non-government organisation and lived/ing drug use experience. Four studies on the health of people who use drugs were reviewed for indicator evidence followed by iterative discussion about construct and item discrepancies. Indicators were measured for the degree to which they were observed using a three-point scale.
All but two constructs were confirmed for meaning. Constructs of 'community' and 'coalition' required revision and explanation. The need for further exploration of power differentials between community and community-based organisations was identified. Indicator evidence was found for all six categories across studies. The instrument was deemed applicable and easy to use. It was observed that categories could apply to studies with various degrees of community engagement and to other research focal areas.
SI-CBPAR applicability testing and initial category confirmation indicate its potential utility for community research collaboratives. The next phase of development involves cognitive interviewing with researchers from across community engaged research orientations, and with communities engaged in research beyond drug user health.
社区参与式研究的结构方面尚未得到很好的衡量,但对社区研究赋权具有关键影响。对于吸毒者来说尤其如此。我们引入了基于社区的参与行动研究的结构指标(SI-CBPAR),以衡量社区-研究实体关系的结构指标。
采用三阶段迭代开发、可行性和适用性评估的过程,将该工具用于社区参与研究,作为工具开发的第一阶段。开发团队包括具有大学、非政府组织和吸毒生活经验的人员。对四项关于吸毒者健康的研究进行了指标证据审查,随后对结构和项目差异进行了迭代讨论。使用三点量表衡量指标的观察程度。
除了两个结构外,所有结构都得到了确认。“社区”和“联盟”这两个结构需要修订和解释。需要进一步探索社区和社区组织之间的权力差异。在研究中发现了所有六个类别的指标证据。该工具被认为是适用且易于使用的。观察到,这些类别可以适用于具有不同程度社区参与度的研究,以及其他研究重点领域。
SI-CBPAR 的适用性测试和初始类别确认表明其对社区研究合作具有潜在的效用。下一阶段的开发涉及对来自不同社区参与研究方向的研究人员以及参与除吸毒者健康以外的研究的社区进行认知访谈。