A thoughtful analysis, Linda. I worked as a community development consultant in northern BC for many years. The most successful projects with which I was associated were definitely grassroots. They were generated by the communities, in response to needs the communities had identified. The participatory research component measured things of interest to the communities. The results were useful because they answered (or attempted to answer) the community's own questions. The results also belonged to them, through a process shaped by them.
By contrast, most of the research was generated by a universities with questions that would provide results of interest to the scholarly community - but which would rarely trickle back down to the communities.
The subjects of the research, the targets of the projects, were rural people. They got tired, very tired. They didn't much like being bugs on pins, to be examined and then ignored. They got tired of cooperating with researchers and projects that required enormous investments of their time - and for which there was no or, when they were lucky, little monetary compensation. They got tired of being examined and then seeing no benefit from the examination.
And that situation goes on. Increasingly, funding for community programs is contingent on an evidence base that is more the province of universities than already-stretched NGOs. With a full and equal partnership, rather than a distant and elite relationship, universities would be well placed to assist communities rather than just study them.
I remember a gathering in rural BC of academics who were studying rural and small-town issues. As coordinator of a regional community economic development organization, I was invited to attend the conference. I was the only community person there. I was the only rural person there. A lot of what I was hearing was inaccurate and irrelevant to the realities of rural life. It felt a bit as if I'd fallen into the rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland.
Cathryn
Cathryn Wellner
Food and Health Project Manager
Interior Health
2180 Ethel Avenue
Kelowna, BC V1Y 3A1
(250) 862-4335; fax (250) 712-9923
-----Original Message-----
From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Linda Green
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 9:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SDOH] community-based?
>Announcing the publication of Methods in Community-Based Participatory
>Research
>for Health Edited by Barbara A. Israel DrPH, Eugenia Eng DrPH, Amy J.
>Schulz
>PhD, Edith A. Parker DrPH
>
>Written by distinguished experts
Let's just flag the phrase 'distinguished experts' for a moment
in light of the claims being made about equal partnerships below.
With the respect due those who have developed CBPR and are
promoting it so that community based organizations can get into
line with the requirements of new evidentiary regimes (including
program and outcomes evaluation), I noticed that the principles
and practices that inform community based participatory research
are essentially those of community psychology. Given that, I wonder
about the strength of the argument that CBPR is truly community
based? I find it very difficult given my exposure to the practices
of knowledge production in the field of psychology to see the field
as capable of leading anything truly grassroots. When I inquired of
those online recently about the history of usage of the term citizen
engagement, someone (forgive me for forgetting for the moment
who that was) responded with a comparison with the participatory
approach that is credited to Paolo Freire. However, I want to point
out that from my point of view, it is a significant political leap from
CBPR to the work of Freire. This was an extremely generous
comparison I think.
For those who weren't aware of the origins of CBPR in community
psychology, take a look at the book Community Psychology: Linking
Individuals and communities. Dalton, J.H. (2001). Stamford, Conn.
Wadsworth Publishing.
>in the field, this book shows how researchers,
>practitioners, and community partners can work together to establish and
>maintain equitable partnerships
why are we so sure these are equitable partnerships? I think
that assertion may need some reality testing. My experience is
you don't have to dig very deep to hear how this isn't quite a fit
on the community side of these partnerships. I suspect we need to
have a closer look at how the role and power of universities and
academics in knowledge production are being reasserted and
redefined by the machinery of evidence based policy making.
>using a community-based participatory research
>(CBPR) approach to increase knowledge and improve health and well-being
>of the
>communities involved. What distinguishes CBPR from other approaches to
>research
>is the active engagement of all partners in the process. This book
>provides a
>comprehensive and thorough presentation of CBPR study designs, specific
>data
>collection and analysis methods, and innovative partnership structures
>and
>process methods. This book informs students, practitioners, researchers,
>and
>community members about methods and applications needed to conduct CBPR
>in the
>widest range of research areas?including social determinants of health,
>health
>disparities, health promotion, community interventions, disease
>management,
>health services, and environmental health.
just a few observations. Linda
>
____________________________
Linda Green, OISE/UT
Counselling for Community Settings
[log in to unmask]
-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask]
SIGNOFF SDOH
DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.
To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname
To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.
For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]
To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST
To view the SDOH archives, go to: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html
-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask]
SIGNOFF SDOH
DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.
To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname
To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.
For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]
To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST
To view the SDOH archives, go to: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html
|
