Online Program

291540
Translational community-based participatory research for youth substance use prevention in a rural community: Methodological issues


Monday, November 4, 2013 : 5:10 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Pamela A. Kulbok, DNSc, RN, APHN-BC, FAAN, School of Nursing, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Eunhee Park, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
Esther Thatcher, MSN, RN, PhD(c), School of Nursing, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Background: Youth substance use is a global public health concern and occurs frequently in rural environments. Consideration of local context, community characteristics, and local community knowledge is an important strategy in designing youth substance use prevention programs that are sustainable and maximize community engagement and outcomes. Methods: For three years, youth, parents, community leaders, and researchers from different disciplines have been involved in a rural, tobacco-growing community, working on a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project. The community participatory research project had multiple phases, including building initial partnerships, conducting community assessment, developing plans for intervention and evaluation, and final dissemination of the process and results. Results: Community-based participatory research is effective in dealing with challenging community health issues such as youth substance use, which involves complex factors from individual to community levels. Multiple voices, including youth, parents and leaders from the community revealed individual differences as well as community characteristics influencing youth substance use and abuse. CBPR can create connections between experts and local community members, as well as reduce the gaps between research, policy, and practice, which will maximize the community sustainability and impact by generating the best practices. Conclusion: Use of CBPR requires startegies to assure methodological rigor while making efforts to hear the community's voice as much as possible. Several possible approaches, such as triangulation with different methods, including modified Photovoice, interviews, focus groups, Geographical Information Systems, in-depth analysis across the researchers and community members, and member checking of the findings with the community members will be discussed.

Learning Areas:

Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Public health or related nursing
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe three analytic methods that can be used in community-based participatory research. Analyze issues associated with methodological rigor in community-based participatory research.

Keyword(s): Community-Based Health Promotion, Methodology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an experienced public health nursing research. I just completed an interdisciplinary, cross-institution, three-year community-based participatory research project on youth substance use prevention in a rural, tobacco-growing county of Virginia.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.