Farrah Jacquez

Community engagement is increasingly recognized as essential for producing impactful and ethical research outcomes. However, the field lacks a standardized, consistently used method to document community involvement, hindering transparency and accountability in the research process. To address this gap, we have developed a novel tool, the Report of Engagement in Community Research (REACH), to provide clarity on the extent, nature, and timing of community involvement in research endeavors. Unlike conventional methods that often offer vague descriptions of community participation, the REACH tool enables research teams to articulate precisely how and when community members are engaged, their specific research roles, and their level of involvement. By offering a concise, visual, structured framework, REACH empowers researchers to transparently communicate the depth and breadth of community collaboration within their projects. Using the REACH tool results in a stylized graph that describes when and what research activities community members were involved in and the extent of their collaboration. Community-academic research teams can use REACH not only to retrospectively explain community contributions to research but also to proactively plan research roles in equitable, realistic ways. By promoting transparency and accountability, the REACH tool contributes to the development of more inclusive, impactful, and ethically sound research practices. As a versatile and user-friendly tool, REACH has the potential to catalyze transformative changes in the way community-engaged research is conducted, communicated, and replicated.

Social connection is a core dimension of health and wellness among all populations, yet the experience of moving to and living in a new country makes social and community-level influences particularly salient for immigrants. We interviewed 38 Latino immigrants living in a nontraditional migration area to explore the social and community foundations of health and wellness. Using hybrid (inductive/deductive) qualitative analysis, we identified seven domains of social connection from the perspective of the interviewed participants: (1) lens of the individual; (2) immigrant experience; (3) interpersonal support; (4) community belonging; (5) community capital; (6) community navigation; and (7) social acceptance. Social connection domains generated by participants are consistent with the scientific literature, but this study identifies the specific social factors that immigrants describe as most salient to their own health and wellness. Our community-generated understanding of social connection can be used by healthcare providers to reduce risks and build on assets that will improve the health of immigrants living in nontraditional migration areas. Additionally, these results might serve as a foundation for a quantitative measure that can be used by providers to more accurately and comprehensively assess the social connection of their patients and by researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of community-level interventions for immigrants.

Social connectedness connection is a core dimension of health and wellness among all populations, yet the experience of moving to, and living in, a new country makes social and community-level influences particularly salient for immigrants. We interviewed 38 Latino immigrants living in a nontraditional migration area to explore the social and community foundations of health and wellness. Illustrated in a model of socioecological connectednesssocial connection, Using hybrid (inductive/deductive) qualitative analysis, we identified seven themesdomains of social connection from the perspective of the interviewed participants: 1) Lens of the individual is a filter for the social world; 2) Immigrant experience colors everything; 3) Interpersonal support enhances quality of life; 4) Community belonging fosters a sense of connectedness; 5) Community capital boosts security; 6) Community navigation promotes integration; and 7) Social acceptance strengthens inclusion. In the healthcare field, we lack conceptual clarity of the distinct connectedness domains that drive positive health outcomes in immigrant populations. Social connection domains generated by participants are consistent with the scientific literature, but this study identifies the specific social factors that immigrants describe as most salient to their own health and wellness. Our community-generated understanding of socioecological connectednesssocial connection can be used by healthcare providers to reduce risks and build on assets that will improve the health of immigrants living in nontraditional migration areas. health. Additionally, our model of socioecological connectednessthese results might serve as a foundation for a quantitative measure that can be used by providers to more accurately and comprehensively assess connectedness social connection of their patients and by researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of community-level interventions for immigrants.

Black individuals have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, likely due in part to historically rooted stressors that lie at the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and racism. We used secondary data from The Association of Black Psychologists’ multi-state needs assessment of 2480 Black adults to examine the link between race-related COVID stress (RRCS) and mental health outcomes. We also examined the moderating roles of everyday discrimination, cultural mistrust, Black activism, Black identity, and spirituality/religiosity in these associations. T-tests revealed that several demographic and cultural factors are associated with RRCS endorsement. A series of regression analyses showed that endorsement of RRCS is associated with higher psychological distress and lower well-being, above and beyond several sociodemographic characteristics. While traditional cultural protective factors did not buffer against the effects of RRCS on mental health, cultural mistrust strengthened the positive association between RRCS and psychological distress; nonetheless, the association of cultural mistrusts with psychological distress was only seen in those who endorsed RRCS. We provide recommendations for policymakers, clinicians, and researchers to consider the impact of RRCS when addressing Black mental health and well-being in the age of COVID-19.

Immigrants and refugees are severely underrepresented at all levels of political decision‐making in the United States. These groups face significant barriers to civic and political participation and leadership, despite a frequent commitment to community care and engagement. There is an urgent need to address immigrant integration and underrepresentation through transformative means that go beyond voting to create a more inclusive and socially just society. We investigated outcomes associated with participation in an immigrant integration program designed to increase immigrants' access to civic engagement through a community‐based participatory research and action process that centered the voices, experiences, and wisdom of refugees and immigrants. Thirty immigrants and refugees representing at least eight different communities participated in semi‐structured interviews. Results illustrate how the program assisted in transforming participants' consciousness, skills, and relationships related to meaningful civic engagement and realizing their voice, power, and rights. These results emphasize the impact and potential of community based participatory research to transform individual and collective efficacy, consciousness, and capabilities—a vital first step in transformative justice.

Our goal was to describe the development, progress, and functioning of Civic Action for Refugee Empowerment in Cincinnati (CARE: Cincinnati) as a model for community-based participatory research (CBPR) with refugees. We conducted a participatory evaluation to assess our collective ability to employ shared power and equitable decision-making, and to facilitate structures that build member ownership and solidarity. We identify principles and processes that can be used by researchers, practitioners, and activists interested in working toward the creation of more equitable community spaces for refugees. Twelve refugee research team members representing seven different countries and ranging in age from 16 to 75 engaged in the participatory evaluation and are coauthors of this manuscript. All participants were interviewed by an external researcher, who transcribed and anonymized responses. Academic researchers first developed preliminary themes and then the entire research team verified, prioritized, and expanded themes. The experiences of refugee team members illustrate an iterative process of reflection and action that are both personally satisfying and encourage work for deeper change. The themes further illustrate that the CBPR process aided in developing a sense of solidarity among diverse team members and that the dynamic and participatory organization of the group fostered equitable and creative decision-making. Our participatory evaluation suggests that future research partnering with refugees that brings together diverse teams to share power will not only improve research quality and dissemination, but will also serve as a tangible benefit for refugee team members. The shared reflection, analysis, and action process inherent in the research process are individually motivating to refugee team members and foster possibility for transformative change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

When positive policy changes and promising development projects come to cities, inclusion in decision-making and dispersion of benefits do not reach all neighborhoods equally. When a tax levy in Cincinnati, Ohio, created substantial resources for universal preschool, agencies and policymakers began to organize to secure portions of the funding. Stakeholders in the neighborhoods of Carthage and Roselawn formed Communities Acting for Kids Empowerment (CAKE), an eleven-member team representing early childhood organizations, Latino-serving agencies, racially diverse churches, community organizers, and parents. Funded through Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Interdisciplinary Research Leaders program, CAKE used an intentionally designed process reflecting three mutually identified core values: shared decision-making, asset-based design, and real-world change. We conducted a participatory evaluation of our first year of working together to understand how our collaboration reflects our values and promotes collective empowerment. Three overarching themes emerged: 1) we hear our communities and our communities are heard; 2) networking is our strength, but also our most important journey, and 3) we've formed the container, now it is time to fill it up. From the perspectives of our diverse team of parents, social service providers, early childhood education specialists, and academics, there are three components that are required to ensure equitable and just collaboration: shared decision-making guided by community voice, the consistent strive for comprehensive and productive networking, and the need for concrete, tangible impact. These factors represent coalition functioning and community-wide changes, two indicators of coalition effectiveness identified in the research literature. Our participatory evaluation contributes to the literature by showing, from the eyes of coalition participants, that coalition effectiveness is intrinsically linked to equitable community development. Implications for practice include needs for equitable funding, representation in decision-making, balancing relationship-building and action, and avoiding silos.

Research on reproductive justice has mainly, but not exclusively, appeared in academic literature in the context of grassroots social justice movements and as a theoretical framework for understanding the limitations of “reproductive choice” in the absence of social justice. But how can scholars design research to explore and understand reproductive (in)justice in the real lives of women of color? How can research partnerships between university scholars and community stewards be formed and sustained? What tensions and challenges are inherent in these efforts? And how can we find more equitable ways of sharing research findings and creating change with and not on behalf of our community? This paper reflects on the use of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) in a reproductive justice research project focused on Black women residing in Cincinnati.