Use of community advisors in developing community-academic research

A team of community-academic research partners sought to understand how Native Hawaiian community members who have health disparities perceive community-based research. In developing this project, the partners called upon key community leaders to be community advisors. The advisors assisted with the development and refinement of the focus group questions. Through this process, the advisors identified that the questions were not in a community-friendly “talking story” format and required additional revisions. The focus group questions underwent additional iterations until a series of community “talking story” questions were developed and approved by the community advisors. Engaging community members in the development of focus group questions engages community, builds capacity, and establishes a trusting relationship. This iterative research process has relevance for organizations/institutions planning to develop and implement community-based research for minority populations so that they will be culturally tailored and acceptable by the targeted communities.