Community-engaged Research at the Society of Behavioral Medicine: Reflecting on Partner Perspectives

Liane Ventura, MPH¹ & Reema Persad-Clem, PhD, MPH²

Community engagement at the Society of Behavioral Medicine

Community engagement has the potential to bridge the gap between behavioral medicine research and implementation. This is largely due to the partnerships formed with individuals and/or groups responsible for and/or affected by the health behavior being investigated.¹ Partners may include policymakers, healthcare providers, leaders from capacity-building organizations, patients, families, and peer support workers. Partners can be engaged at various points along the research cycle continuum, from being included in the project planning and design phases to data analysis and dissemination.

Since 2022, a core group of researchers at the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) has been actively developing initiatives to bolster SBM’s support of research conducted with community partners and to improve overall engagement approaches. SBM launched a robust training on Community Engagement Studios in summer 2023. In an additional show of support, community partners were encouraged to attend the 2023 SBM Annual Meeting. A few partners attended to co-present findings from community-engaged research efforts. For this article, we informally interviewed three partners, who attended the Annual Meeting, to understand both their conference experience and their overall perspective on collaborating with researchers. Our partners were Lorena Verdugo (Community Health Coordinator) with El Rio Community Health Center, Andy Ollove (Food Access Program Director) with Fresh Approach, and another partner who declined to be identified in this article.   

Community Partner Perceptions of Attending the SBM Annual Meeting

As a group, community partners interviewed noted that a key benefit of attending the conference was the ability to share their own work. Another advantage was the opportunity to build and strengthen the existing network of community partnerships and behavioral medicine researchers. They also highlighted that they appreciated the chance to emphasize both the benefits of research partnerships and potential threats to research not conducted in partnership with the community.

Community Partner Recommendations to Enhance Research Collaborations

Partners expressed the importance of trust and communication in the relationship between academic and community research partners. They suggested that researchers consider how collaborations could be more mutually beneficial, including by providing equitable compensation for partners, valuable learning opportunities, and/or high-quality clinical services. One partner highlighted the importance of community engagement during data interpretation, suggesting that population-level data should be interpreted with the cultural nuance and variations of the sample at the fore. Therefore, community engaged researchers should consider involving partners not only early in the research cycle (during planning and design), but also during data analysis and dissemination.²

A Call to Action

We are deeply grateful to our community partners for sharing their thoughts and perceptions to enhance our understanding of their involvement within SBM. Providing opportunities that cultivate bidirectional relationships is key to shifting the dial on the community involvement continuum from outreach to shared leadership.³ Only then can we more effectively impact the environmental, social, economic, and political factors that influence health outcomes.

To continue the conversation about community-engaged research at SBM, please consider:

• Attending the SBM Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, March 13-16, 2024. You may also consider inviting and sponsoring community partners to join you in presenting your research.
• Joining the “SBM Community Engaged Researchers” LinkedIn Group. Please email Liane Ventura if you need assistance in joining.

Affiliations

1. Research Associate, Center for Applied Research and Evaluation in Women’s Health, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University
2. Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, Arcadia University

References

1. Kwan BM, Ytell K, Coors M, et al. A stakeholder engagement method navigator webtool for clinical and translational science. J Clin Trans Sci. 2021;5(1):e180. doi:10.1017/cts.2021.850
2. ATSDR CE Playbook Index | ATSDR. Published December 17, 2021. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ceplaybook/index.html
3. Chapter 1: What Is Community Engagement? | Principles of Community Engagement | ATSDR. Published July 26, 2022. Accessed August 16, 2023. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/communityengagement/pce_what.html