Facilitating Community Participants’ Research Engagement: Community Members’ Perceptions of Community-based Research

OBJECTIVES: To describe the perspectives of community participants about engaging in community-based participatory research, and then to use the information to develop a model to depict the community participants’ perceptions of interfacing with academic researchers. METHOD: A diverse group of Native Hawaiian community-dwelling participants engaged in open-ended and semi-structured focus group interviews, addressing community members’ perceptions of community-based participatory research. RESULTS: Three key areas were identified: (1) reciprocal trustable is needed; (2) perceptions about the purpose, research intent and expectations; (3) expectations of roles and responsibilities of the researcher(s). A model showing the reciprocity between the academic partner and the community partner is needed to establish the full CBPR process is proposed. CONCLUSION: The three themes implied the community participants’ expectations of reciprocal relationships. The dimensions influencing community members’ perceptions of community-based research need to be taken into account when academic researchers interface with community participants. Successful community-based participatory research approaches for addressing the challenges of translating research findings into community actions is enhanced when the expectations of community members are taken into account.