Development and evaluation of a community-engaged research training program: Building capacity of Marshallese stakeholders and academic researchers to conduct health research

Abstract

Pacific Islanders are a growing, yet understudied population who suffer from high rates of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Given the historical trauma experienced by Pacific Islanders, community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an appropriate way to conduct research focused on reducing the health disparities observed in this population. This paper presents the process of engaging the Marshallese community to design, conduct, and evaluate a community-engaged research training program. The goal of the program was to build the capacity of both academic researchers and community stakeholders to conduct CBPR for the purpose of addressing health disparities identified and prioritized by the Marshallese community. The program included both didactic training and experiential mentored research components delivered over a period of two years. Eleven Marshallese community stakeholders and eleven academic researchers participated in the program. Results indicated that the program successfully increased participants’ knowledge regarding the CBPR process. Groups of participants have completed exploratory research projects based on the topics identified by the community. The evaluation adds important insights to the current CBPR training literature and can inform future CBPR trainings. Keywordscommunity-based participatory research, community-engaged research, Pacific Islanders, minority health, health disparities, interprofessional training