Harnessing the Power of Community-Based Participatory Research: Examining Knowledge, Action, and Consciousness in the PROUD Study

Abstract

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an approach to research that recognizes the specific knowledge and abilities that individuals from diverse backgrounds bring to the generation of new knowledge for the purpose of social action aimed at improving public health and health equity. In this article, the authors apply Gaventa and Cornwall's dimensions of participatory research to the analysis of 12 semistructured interviews with members of our Community Advisory Committee for the Participatory Research in Ottawa: Understanding Drugs (PROUD) study. This process-to-outcomes framework may help projects more systematically explore their experiences in relation to common CBPR principles and lead to greater conceptual clarity.

Keywords::

• Community-based participatory research
• evaluation
• knowledge
• action
• consciousness

FUNDING

This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Social Research Centre under Grant #HCP-97106.

Notes

The authors thank all members of the CAC who participated in interviews as part of this process evaluation and who supported the development of interview questions as part of this evaluation.