Community health workers support community-based participatory research ethics: Lessons learned along the research-to-practice-to-community continuum

Selina A. Smith, Daniel S. Blumenthal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ethical principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR)-specifically, community engagement, mutual learning, action-reflection, and commitment to sustainability-stem from the work of Kurt Lewin and Paulo Freire. These are particularly relevant in cancer disparities research because vulnerable populations are often construed to be powerless, supposedly benefiting from programs over which they have no control. The long history of exploiting minority individuals and communities for research purposes (the U.S. Public Health Service Tuskegee Syphilis Study being the most notorious) has left a legacy of mistrust of research and researchers. The purpose of this article is to examine experiences and lessons learned from community health workers (CHWs) in the 10-year translation of an educational intervention in the research-to-practice-to-community continuum. We conclude that the central role played by CHWs enabled the community to gain some degree of control over the intervention and its delivery, thus operationalizing the ethical principles of CBPR.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)77-87
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
Volume23
Issue number4 SUPPL.
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • African Americans
  • Cancer disparities
  • Colorectal cancer
  • Community health workers
  • Community-based participatory research
  • Ethics
  • Translational research

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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