Supporting ethical practice in community-engaged research with 4R: Respond, Record, Reflect, and Revise

Abstract

Efforts towards adaptation, dissemination, and implementation of culturally robust, evidence-informed mental health care rely on community-engaged research (CEnR). Academic-community partnerships help bring science to service for vulnerable and historically disenfranchised populations (e.g., communities of color and those characterized by poverty). A growing literature supports the development of a framework of ethics for CEnR. This article examines ethical tensions in the context of the American Psychological Association Ethics Code General Principles – Beneficence and Nonmaleficence; Fidelity and Responsibility; Integrity; Justice; and Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity – and presents the 4R action plan to support application of APA guidelines to academic-community partnership with youth-serving organizations.

Keywords:

• community- engaged research
• vulnerable populations
• academic- community partnership
• training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [1F31HD093348-01A1].;