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Community Based Participatory Research
Dr. Isabelita Samaniego
COMMUNITY BASED PARTICIPATORY REASEARCH
 Conducted by and for those most directly affected by the
issue, condition, situation or intervention being studied
and evaluated
 A collaborative approach to research that equitably
involved all partners in the research process and
recognizes the unique strengths that each brings
REASONS FOR USING CBPR
 Yields better and more nearly complete and accurate
information from the community
 Involves the community in research makes a positive
outcome that meets community needs
 Action research trains researchers who can turn their skills
to other problems
 Involvement changes people’s perceptions of themselves
and of what they can do
OVERALL BENEFITS OF CBPR
 Enhances data quality and quantity, by establishing trust
 Moves beyond categorical approaches
 Improves research definition and direction
 Enhances translation and sustainability of findings
 Improves the community’s health, education, and
economics by sharing knowledge obtain from projects
Who should be involved in CBPR?
 People most affected by the issue or intervention under
study
 Other members of the affected population
 Decision makers
 Academe  with an interest in the issue or intervention in
question
 Health, human service, and public agency staff and
volunteers
 Community members at large
When should you employ CBPR?
 You need an entry to the community or group from whom
the information is being gathered
 You’re concerned with buy-in and support from the
community
 You want to have an effect on and empower the
community researchers
 You want to set the stage for long-term social change
THE PROCESS
 The formation and ongoing maintenance of community
relationships
 Developing a focus and defining research problems
 Understanding the ideological background and political
nature of CBPR
 Documenting and communicating CBPR results. Problems
in the CBPR process and gaps in our understanding of the
CBPR process must also be addressed
COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIP
 Understanding the community infrastructure
o Different groups in the community
o Community leaders, and the resources and skills
available in the community
o Delineates how other communities share social
space with a specific community
o Community survey  community diagnosis 
current status of the community
DEVELOPING A RESEARCH FOCUS AND DEFINING
RESEARCH PROBLEMS
 The research focus/problem must reflect real issues of
community members (ex: factors associated with the
occurrence of bronchial asthma in a certain barangay)
 Research questions initiated by community members are
automatically of interest to that community (ex: effect of
diesel fumes on the lungs; effect of smoking on the lungs;
factors associated with acute respiratory tract infection
RESEARCH PROCESS
 Relies on interviews, experience, knowledge of the
community
 Understanding of the issues or interventions from the
community (rather than on academic skills or
understanding of statistics)
UNDERSTANDING THE IDEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND AND
POLITICAL NATURE OF CBPR
 Community members and scientists must share an
ideology about the importance of community participation
in society and in problem solving
 CBPR is a political process and a political statement
 CBPR must deal with advocacy and policy
 Willingness of academic researchers to engage in
advocacy and policy enhances credibility in the community
and builds trust
DOCUMENTATION, DISSEMINATION, AND
COMMUNICATION OF CBPR RESULT
 Results published for the community must be
disseminated in appropriate venues (local newspapers,
newsletters, circulars) and in appropriate languages for
community members
 It provides feedback to community participants, and
acknowledges their time and efforts
 Dissemination and communication of CBPR results are
important avenues for influencing policy
GAPS AND PROBLEMS
 Developing culturally appropriate health education
materials and process is important for improving general
health in a community, but health education alone cannot
cure social injustice or health disparities
INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THIS RESEARCH PARADIGM
 Schools of public health and state and local public health
departments must be convinced that CBPR is beneficial to
their meeting of their primary missions  educating
public health professionals and improving public
health
 Relationships built between a school or department and a
community during one project will provide the basis of
future projects and cooperation during emergencies
BUILDING AND CONTINUING RELATIONSHIPS
 Develop trust among and within community members and
organizations (person-person)
 Develop trust among organizations  community must
learn to trust the academic institution and vice versa
 Involving the student  biggest foundation
HOW TO INSTITUTE AND CARRY OUT CBPR?
 Recruit a community research team
 Orient and train the research team
 The team determines the questions for the research
 The team plans and structures the research
 As a team, carry out the plan
 The team prepares and presents a report and
recommendations on its work
 Must take, or try to bring about, appropriate action
 Evaluate the process
 Must provide an opportunity for team members to reflect
on and discuss their learning and the effects of the
experience of being involved in the process
 Maintain gains in the research by keeping team members
involved
AREAS OF CONCERN
 THE ENVIRONMENT
o Contamination by the dumping of toxic waste
 MEDICAL / HEALTH ISSUES
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CBPR

o Collecting information about health practices,

taking an epidemic, or mapping the occurrence of
a particular condition
 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES
o To catch corrupt politicians or corporations, trace
campaign contributions

EVALUATION AS A STRATEGY FOR DOCUMENTING THE

STRENGTHS OF CBPR
 What are these effects of community-based partnerships?
 How do CBPR partnerships achieve these effects?
 What kind of evaluation is most helpful in enabling us to
assess these effects?

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CBPR?

 Greater usage of research findings by community groups
and individuals who are most at risk for compromised
environmental health
 Maintenance over long periods of time of ongoing
research and application collaboration
 Shifts in the ways in which departments of public health
engage in education and outreach with their local
communities
 Redirect the training of environmental health scientists so
that collaborative approaches to carrying out research are
more fully understood

SCENARIOS
 Academic or other researchers devise and construct a
study, and employ community people as data collectors
and/or analysts
 A problem or issue is identified by a researcher or other
entity (a human service organization, for instance), and
community people are recruited to engage in research on
it and develop a solution
 A community based organization or other group gathers
community people to define and work on a community
issue of their choosing, or to evaluate a community
intervention aimed at them or people similar to them
 A problem is identified by a community member or group,
others who are affected and concerned gather around to
help, and the resulting group sets out to research and
solve the problems on its own.

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