Section 2: What is Community-Engaged Research (CEnR)?

Members of a CEnR Team

It takes a village! For CEnR to be most effective, a network of individuals works in partnership toward the same goals and objectives. As the research takes shape, the groups listed below may be modified over time. Primary groups driving the direction of the research include:

Researcher or Academic Partners: Individual researchers or educators and their teams, which can include several internal project and ancillary staff. The internal main research team often includes:

• Principal investigator (PI): Lead researcher for a study; assumes full responsibility for the study.

• Co-investigator(s): A researcher who contributes significantly to a study.

• Project manager(s): A research team member who manages a research study and oversees research staff.

• Project coordinator/human research technologist(s): A research team member who coordinates day-to-day study operations.

Conducting any research study, including CEnR, often involves collaboration with other research support services, such as individuals who assist in the proposal submission process, those that help manage your research budget, data managers and statisticians to assist with data collection and analysis, among others!

Community partners: Individuals (such as patients, caregivers, clinicians, policy makers, community health workers, educators and other community members) or organizations (such as community-based organizations, clinics, health departments, advocacy groups, agencies and other groups representing communities) who share their voices, perspectives and knowledge to inform research. “Stakeholder” is another term to describe these individuals or groups.^9,13

Internal main research team may include:

• Principal investigator

• Co-investigators

• Trainees (undergraduates, graduates, post-docs)

• Research project manager

• Research project coordinator/technician

• Community engagement coordinator

Internal ancillary research team may include:

• Pre-award specialist

• Financial analyst

• IRB analyst

• Marketing specialist

• Nurse coordinator

• Data manager

• Biostatistician

External community partner team may include:

• Advocate

• Clinic, hospital, health system representative

• Clinician

• Community-based organization representative (CBO)

• Community health worker (CHW)

• Community member educator/school administration (K-12)

• Higher education representative

• Industry representative

• Law enforcement officer

• Parent/guardian

• Patient/caregiver

• Payer (public or private insurance) representative

• Policy maker (government official)

• Religious leader

• Research volunteer

• Social worker

• Subject matter expert

• Among others!

As you can see, a CEnR team often brings together a wide range of expertise and perspectives, making it important to apply team science principles to ensure appropriate team formation, launch, maturation and assessment. Check out the CTSI Team Science Toolbox to access practical, evidence-based team interventions and metrics to support sustainable partnerships.

CEnR as a Continuum

CEnR exists on a continuum that depends on the extent of community involvement.^2,11-12 Some projects may include minimal involvement, such as advisory roles to review the study’s proposed intervention. Other projects may include intensive community involvement throughout key phases of the research, including research question and proposal development, project implementation, and dissemination (i.e., community-based participatory research). Further, some community partners may be engaged in a research study at fluctuating levels over the course of the project. For example, a research team may be partnering with an advocacy group that helps to prioritize the research agenda at project inception, but then doesn’t hold an active role again until results dissemination.

Community-Engaged Research Continuum

Importance and Benefits of CEnR

CEnR promotes bi-directional learning, partnership empowerment and sustainable collaborations by understanding the values, knowledge and wisdom of the community that may otherwise be unobtainable or overlooked to an outside researcher.^9,17 This invaluable expertise and perspective enrich the research process and outcomes, thus improving translation back to the community.^11,18 By establishing and maintaining community-focused priorities, research and education teams can successfully:

• Engage in work with community partners instead of on community members.

• Build meaningful partnerships between communities and research institutions.

• Learn about the unique needs and desires of communities and incorporate these insights into their work.

• Develop research questions that address issues of concern to the community.

• Develop community interventions that respect community cultural values and embrace traditions.

• Create robust, efficient recruitment strategies that increase diverse participant enrollment pools.

• Perform research that improves public health and health outcomes among under-resourced populations.

• Mobilize and redistribute resources for better policies, programs and practices.

• And ultimately, increase public confidence in medical and academic research.^9,11,17