Situating positionality and power in CBPR conducted with a refugee community: benefits of a co-learning reflective model

ABSTRACT

Reflexivity, an important component of qualitative inquiry generally, gains additional significance in community-based participatory research (CBPR). The varying partnerships among researchers, community partners, and community members are strengthened when a co – learning, reflective model is applied. The use of reflective field notes can be a powerful tool to help achieve this end. In this article, we describe the dynamics of community-engaged research team where members applied a co-learning model to reflect upon their positionality in the community and in research. Using reflective field notes examined through a narrative approach to the PI’s time in the field, we assess these positionalities through the relationships between CBPR work and power relations. The reflective practice embedded in the CBPR process brought these power relations to our attention. We then turned to the literature on power relations to better understand what was occurring in the study. The current case details the additional complexity that occurs when issues of language, translation, gender, and culture are introduced. Thus, this paper is a reflective analysis of a bilingual researcher’s experience in the field specific to cross-cultural CBPR work.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflexivity
• reflective practice
• positionality
• CBPR
• cross-cultural research
• power relations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kunga Denzongpa

Kunga Denzongpa, MPH is pursuing her PhD in the department of Public Health Education at UNCG. Her research focuses on refugee and immigrant health, global health, and maternal healthcare with emphasis on prenatal health care access and quality of care specifically among immigrant women.

Tracy Nichols

Tracy Nichols, Ph.D., is a Professor of Public Health Education at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She is a qualitative methodologist with expertise in arts-based and narrative methods. Her research focuses on the intersection of reproductive health and community-level interventions, policies, and advocacy.

Sharon D. Morrison

Sharon D. Morrison, MSPH, PhD is an Associate Professor and community engaged researcher in the Department of Public Health Education in the School of Health and Human Sciences at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Here areas of interest include refugee and immigrant health and the use of community-based participatory research approaches with vulnerable populations.