Academic Hegemony and Monitoring of Shared Power in Community-Engaged Research Trials: The Mid-Atlantic Center for Cardiometabolic Health Equity, 2023-2024.

Abstract

Objectives. To measure community-engaged research processes used by researchers across 3 trials based on data from a community engagement monitoring and evaluation tool. Methods. The Mid-Atlantic Center for Cardiometabolic Health Equity Community Engagement Core used a tracking form developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity to monitor its community-engaged research processes (the frequency and types of engagement activities, the categories of community partners engaged, and the rate at which each study team enacted community partners' recommendations) between February 2023 and June 2024. Results. The 3 trials reported 114 engagement activities, predominated by meetings convened with specific community partners (60.5%). The community partners most frequently engaged included community organizations and local businesses (28.6%), frontline health care workers (27.5%), and health care organizations (19.6%). Recruiting and retaining study participants (28.8%) was the most discussed topic, followed by addressing implementation challenges (20.5%) and recruiting and retaining study sites (20.1%). Study teams implemented community partners' recommendations at an overall rate of 93.1%. Conclusions. Study findings underscore the importance of developing monitoring and evaluation tools that discern whether shared power is achieved in community-engaged research trials and identify opportunities to dismantle academic hegemony. (Am J Public Health. 2025;115(S2):S164-S173. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308188).