August 5, 2013

Two Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Projects Ending

Two ground-breaking CBPR projects directed by Principal Investigator (PI) Bonnie Duran, DrPH, are nearing the end of four years of funding in August 2013. The defining characteristic of CBPR is that the research is conducted as an equal partnership between academic personnel and community members. The community participates fully in all aspects of the research process from the initial design, allocation of resources, implementation, and dissemination of findings.

 Research for Improved Health: A National Study of Community-Academic Partnerships (National Institutes of Health’s Native American Research Centers for Health Award U261HS300293/01) investigated the promoters of and barriers to CBPR partnerships. The research team was based at three institutions: the National Congress of American Indians (Malia Villegas, Dr.Ed, overall PI), provided overall direction and responsibility; IWRI spearheaded survey data collection and analysis (Bonnie Duran, UW-PI); and the University of New Mexico’s Centers for Health (Nina Wallerstein, Dr.PH, UNM-PI), is collecting and analyzing data from case studies.

IWRI team members include Cynthia Pearson, PhD, Chuan Zhou, PhD, Dennis Donovan, PhD, Mary Larimer, PhD, Maya Magarati, PhD, Myra Parker, JD, PhD, and Leo Egashira, MBA. Former key personnel include Diane Martin, PhD, and Elana Mainer, MPH, MSW. 

            The teams conducted a nationwide, online survey of 322 community and academic partnerships and conducted nine in-depth case studies, collecting data such as the environment, individual and structural dynamics, community and academic capacities, governance and policies, and interventions and outcomes. The data reveal a very rich and complex picture of what works and what does not work in fostering successful collaborative research studies. The papers generated by the study will provide much-needed literature to address the growing interest in CBPR.

            CBPR with Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU): Drug and Alcohol Problems and Solutions Study (National Institutes of Health’s Native American Research Centers for Health Award 1 R01DA029001-01) is the first comprehensive drug and alcohol needs assessment done at TCU. The study is a collaboration among Northwest Indian College on the Lummi Nation in Bellingham, Washington—the primary grant recipient (Karyl Jefferson, MPA, overall PI), the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, 27 participating TCU, and IWRI (Bonnie Duran, UW-PI).

IWRI team members include Dennis Donovan, PhD, Mary Larimer, PhD, Maya Magarati, PhD, Myra Parker, JD, PhD, and Leo Egashira, MBA. Former staffer, Elana Mainer, MPH, MSW also played a critical role in the study.

   This study asked a select group of up to five students, five faculty and five staff members at each TCU about their perceptions of alcohol and drug use at their TCU. Preliminary data show that:

• 84% of students, faculty and staff surveyed at 27 TCU feel that “drinking alcohol is a normal activity among male students,” and that 83% feel the same about female students.

• 85% feel that “addressing alcohol problems would help improve academic performance of students.”

• 51% feel that “taking drugs is a normal activity among male students, while 45% feel the same is true among female students.”

  While the above figures are perceptions, they no doubt reflect the reality that serious drug and alcohol problems exist at TCU, not unlike the existence of the same problems in mainstream colleges and universities.

 The survey also looked at and measured the unique social networks provided by TCU. The value of these social networks provide Native American students with educational, social and cultural advantages that can be used to reduce the harm caused by problem alcohol and drug use.

• More than 80% of students, faculty and staff surveyed at 27 TCU feel that “traditional activities bring people together.”
• 53% of students and 67% of faculty & staff feel that “if a student has alcohol or drug problems, TCU faculty and staff will step in.”

As the current needs assessment study comes to a close, there will be over a dozen papers analyzing the collected data. The papers are expected to provide TCU with information to suggest strength-based approaches to address problem areas and to assist TCU in applying for grants.