Community engagement in the context of cancer: scoping review of definitions and measures to inform program-level analysis.

PURPOSE

The objective of this research is to determine how community-engaged activities, and their resulting impact, are currently being measured by cancer centers. To accomplish this, the various definitions of community engagement as used by cancer center community outreach and engagement programs are identified and analyzed, and the frameworks and metrics employed in assessing community outreach and engagement programming are explored. This work can help to inform how to better determine community engagement impact and its overall return on investment, as well as compare impact across cancer centers.

METHODS

Between August 29 and September 1, 2022, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and Google Scholar were searched for articles including the "community engagement" and "cancer" search concepts. After removal of duplicate records, a title abstract screen was conducted to identify those articles that (1) were conducted within the USA, (2) focused on cancer, (3) undertaken by a cancer center, (4) pertained to community engagement, and (5) published in the English language. The review excluded conference abstracts, editorials, and book chapters.

RESULTS

Analysis of definitions identified within the included literature revealed the following four overarching core components of community engagement specific to cancer centers: defined stakeholders, resource exchange, collaborative relationships, and mutually beneficial outcomes. The most common frameworks/models were community-based research models, followed by social and behavioral focused. Measures to assess all essential aspects of community engagement were infrequently included in community projects.

CONCLUSION

The results of this scoping review and analysis propose a common definition and model of community engagement for cancer-related activities conducted by cancer centers. These are important as common measures can be incorporated into all aspects of community engagement work. This can assist cancer centers in determining collective impact using both project and process outcomes. Common measures can help cancer centers include time and resources needed for community engagement within budgets and impact reporting.