Clarifying Community Engaged Research

Last week at the American ublic Health Association Annual Meeting in Philadelpia, I was fortunate to hear Shawn Kimmel describe a spectrum for community engaged research. The spectrum goes from community-driven to researcher-driven with community-based (equal partnership) in between. Dr. Kimmel did not assert that one of these structures is inherently better than another, rather that their relative value lies in what one wants to accomplish.

This is a great articulation of the evolving field of community-engaged research. It is very useful for those approaching partners to understand which type of partnership they want. It is also a great way to reflect upon existing partnerships. Do all the partners you work with have clarity about where your partnership lies on this spectrum? If not, why not?

A couple of points:
1) If you want to do community-driven research, it is critical that the community control the money involved. So funders, interested in promoting community-driven solutions, should look at models that fund CBOs directly, with academic partners serving a consultancy role.
2) Dr. Kimmel also mentioned that communities can readily do policy work without the need to conduct original research. As readers of this blog, or attendees of any of my workshops know. I agree with this point. Community-driven and community-based research should serve the interests of the community, therefore they should be designed to answer questions that can lead directly to changes (often targeting the systems level) that will improve health and well-being.

Shawn Kimmel is the Founding Director of the Center for Community Driven Policy in Detroit. I very much look forward to his future work and insights.