- AHRQ Activities Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Address Health Care Disparities

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an approach to health and environmental research meant to increase the value of studies for both researchers and the communities participating in a study. In 2001, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) collaborated with several Federal agencies and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to convene a 2-day conference designed to address three key barriers to CBPR:

1. Insufficient community incentives (i.e., staffing and resources) to play a partnership role in CBPR projects.
2. Insufficient academic resources (i.e., staffing and resources) for researchers to play a partnership role in CBPR projects.
3. Inadequate funding and funding mechanisms that are not sensitive to community involvement.

The conference recommended that AHRQ commission one of its Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) to study existing evidence on the conduct and evaluation of CBPR. As a result, in 2004, AHRQ published the RTI International–University of North Carolina EPC’s systematic review and synthesis of the scientific literature regarding CBPR and its role in improving community health.

A formal definition of CBPR was developed for this EPC Report:

“Community-based participatory research is a collaborative research approach that is designed to ensure and establish structures for participation by communities affected by the issue being studied, representatives of organizations, and researchers in all aspects of the research process to improve health and well-being through taking action, including social change.”

The CBPR approach is particularly attractive for academics and public health professionals struggling to address the persistent problems of health care disparities in populations that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has designated as priority populations. These populations include historically underrepresented populations, such as racial and ethnic minorities; low-income, rural, and inner-city populations; women; and children.