TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond incentives for involvement to compensation for consultants
T2 - Increasing equity in CBPR approaches
AU - Black, Kristin Z.
AU - Hardy, Christina Yongue
AU - De Marco, Molly
AU - Ammerman, Alice S.
AU - Corbie-Smith, Giselle
AU - Council, Barbara
AU - Ellis, Danny
AU - Eng, Eugenia
AU - Harris, Barbara
AU - Jackson, Melvin
AU - Jean-Baptiste, Jimmy
AU - Kearney, William
AU - Legerton, Mac
AU - Parker, Donald
AU - Wynn, Mysha
AU - Lightfoot, Alexandra
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Background: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) strives for equitable collaboration among community and academic partners throughout the research process. To build the capacity of academia to function as effective research partners with communities, the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS), home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH)'s Clinical and Translational Sciences Award (CTSA), developed a community engagement consulting model. This new model harnesses the expertise of community partners with CBPR experience and compensates them equitably to provide technical assistance to community- academic research partnerships. Objectives: This paper describes approaches to valuing community expertise, the importance of equitable compensation for community partners, the impact on the community partners, opportunities for institutional change, and the constraints faced in model implementation. Methods: Community Experts (CEs) are independent contractor consultants. CEs were interviewed to evaluate their satisfaction with their engagement and compensation for their work. Lessons Learned: (1) CEs have knowledge, power, and credibility to push for systems change. (2) Changes were needed within the university to facilitate successful consultation to community-academic partnerships. (3) Sustaining the CE role requires staff support, continued compensation, increased opportunities for engagement, and careful consideration of position demands. (4) The role provides benefits beyond financial compensation. (5) Opportunities to gather deepened relationships within the partnership and built collective knowledge that strengthened the project. Conclusions: Leveraging CE expertise and compensating them for their role benefits both university and community. Creating a place for community expertise within academia is an important step toward equitably including the community in research.
AB - Background: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) strives for equitable collaboration among community and academic partners throughout the research process. To build the capacity of academia to function as effective research partners with communities, the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS), home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH)'s Clinical and Translational Sciences Award (CTSA), developed a community engagement consulting model. This new model harnesses the expertise of community partners with CBPR experience and compensates them equitably to provide technical assistance to community- academic research partnerships. Objectives: This paper describes approaches to valuing community expertise, the importance of equitable compensation for community partners, the impact on the community partners, opportunities for institutional change, and the constraints faced in model implementation. Methods: Community Experts (CEs) are independent contractor consultants. CEs were interviewed to evaluate their satisfaction with their engagement and compensation for their work. Lessons Learned: (1) CEs have knowledge, power, and credibility to push for systems change. (2) Changes were needed within the university to facilitate successful consultation to community-academic partnerships. (3) Sustaining the CE role requires staff support, continued compensation, increased opportunities for engagement, and careful consideration of position demands. (4) The role provides benefits beyond financial compensation. (5) Opportunities to gather deepened relationships within the partnership and built collective knowledge that strengthened the project. Conclusions: Leveraging CE expertise and compensating them for their role benefits both university and community. Creating a place for community expertise within academia is an important step toward equitably including the community in research.
KW - Clinical and Translational Science Award
KW - Community engagement
KW - Community participation
KW - Community-academic partnerships
KW - Community-based participatory research
KW - Consultants
KW - Health disparities
KW - Organizational change
KW - Pay equity
KW - Social change
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84884477024&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1353/cpr.2013.0040
DO - 10.1353/cpr.2013.0040
M3 - Article
C2 - 24056508
AN - SCOPUS:84884477024
SN - 1557-0541
VL - 7
SP - 263
EP - 270
JO - Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action
JF - Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action
IS - 3
ER -