TY - JOUR
T1 - Examining and evaluating multilevel communication within a mixed-methods, community-based participatory research project in a rural, minority–majority U.S. Town
AU - Palmer-Wackerly, Angela L.
AU - Reyes, Maria S.
AU - Ali, Sahra H.
AU - Gocchi Carrasco, Kim
AU - Habecker, Patrick
AU - Houska, Kristen
AU - Chaidez, Virginia
AU - Soliz, Jordan
AU - Tippens, Julie A.
AU - Holland, Kathryn J.
AU - Pytlik Zillig, Lisa
AU - Patterson, Kali
AU - Dombrowski, Kirk
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Rural Futures Institute at the University of Nebraska; University of Nebraska-Lincoln?s College of Arts and Sciences: [Grant Number Enhance Grant/21-0524-0011]; Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station with funding from the Hatch capacity funding program from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture: [Grant Number Accession Number 1011764]. We wish to thank Lexington Regional Health Center staff, including Mulki Hussein; the Dawson County Historical Society Museum and Director Crystal Werger; Nebraska History Museum and Curator of Education Sharon Kennedy; Two Rivers Health Department Director Jeremy Eschliman; and the Nebraska DHHS Office of Minority Health Administrator Josie Rodriguez. Without their help and support, this project would not have been possible. We also thank Grecia Macias, Alyssa Kobza, Nestor Hernandez, Beza Bekele, and Kamryn Sannicks for their help with transcribing interviews. And, finally, we wish to thank the people of Lexington, NE, who generously shared their stories and time with us through Photovoice focus groups, exhibits and completing the survey.
Funding Information:
Because the research team involved three entities (MHDI, university administration, and the transdisciplinary research team), each balanced different roles, responsibilities, and intraorganizational pressures. The first conflict involved identity and communication between MHDI’s director and project manager. As the PI explained, ‘We were paying a good deal of money for her to hang out there, she had a car, hotel racking up fast against MHDI’s budget, so part of our effort to get a grant was trying to get some of that cost off.’ The university administration was supportive and found a grant, funded by the Rural Futures Institute, that helped temporarily. As MHDI’s community impact coordinator, the project manager said she felt internal pressure to demonstrate organizational value. She was in tension between wanting to share ownership of the project to distribute the workload and wanting to demonstrate her long-term value to the university to gain more stable pay. As a result, her responsibilities split her time between visiting Lexington and applying for future grants, a workload that she said was unsustainable for one person to effectively handle. Academic researchers on the team helped to design the project, inform data collection, analyze data, and give troubleshooting advice. However, it was difficult to find time to meet as a team. As the project manager explained:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 National Communication Association.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been shown to improve health and social well-being by including diverse, marginalized community voices within academic–community partnerships. Although CBPR has gained in popularity, an explicit examination and evaluation of communication processes and outcomes throughout an entire CBPR project is lacking. Here, we analyze interviews with 10 stakeholders (i.e. 4 academic and 6 community partners) about their experiences in a three-phase, mixed-methods project exploring Hispanic and Somali community members’ perceptions of healthcare needs and access in a rural U.S. community. Results reflect that CBPR endeavors include communication challenges, successes, and ongoing tensions not simply between the academic group and community partners but also within these groups. We encourage academic–community research partners to devote considerable efforts to strengthening effective communication between and within multiple identity groups throughout an entire CBPR project (including evaluation) as they work to create, complete, and sustain project goals and outcomes.
AB - Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been shown to improve health and social well-being by including diverse, marginalized community voices within academic–community partnerships. Although CBPR has gained in popularity, an explicit examination and evaluation of communication processes and outcomes throughout an entire CBPR project is lacking. Here, we analyze interviews with 10 stakeholders (i.e. 4 academic and 6 community partners) about their experiences in a three-phase, mixed-methods project exploring Hispanic and Somali community members’ perceptions of healthcare needs and access in a rural U.S. community. Results reflect that CBPR endeavors include communication challenges, successes, and ongoing tensions not simply between the academic group and community partners but also within these groups. We encourage academic–community research partners to devote considerable efforts to strengthening effective communication between and within multiple identity groups throughout an entire CBPR project (including evaluation) as they work to create, complete, and sustain project goals and outcomes.
KW - Community-based participatory research (CBPR)
KW - intergroup communication
KW - minority health
KW - mixed methods
KW - rural health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097075796&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85097075796&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00909882.2020.1851042
DO - 10.1080/00909882.2020.1851042
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097075796
VL - 49
SP - 129
EP - 147
JO - Journal of Applied Communication Research
JF - Journal of Applied Communication Research
SN - 0090-9882
IS - 2
ER -