Soc WL 591A: Community-based Participatory Research – Spring 2018 course open to MSW students

SOC WL 591A: Community-Based Participatory Research (3)

(Note: This course may serve as a substitute for Soc W 506 for MSW students, but students will need to email Lin at linm@uw.edu to get the course pulled into their degree audit manually)

Instructor:                 Bonnie Duran, Dr.PH, bonduran@uw.edu

Instructor                  Myra Parker, PhD, JD, myrap@uw.edu

Units:                        3 credits, graded

Location:                   UW Health Services I-Wing, I-142

Day & Time:             Wednesdays 8:30am – 11:20am

Office Hours:                     By appointment, SSW Room 211-D & IWRI Research Commons

Participants:             UW SSW & SPH Graduate Students,  Fellows

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and other forms of community-engaged research (CEnR), such as Participatory Action Research, Collaborative Inquiry, and Practice-Based Research Networks, have received growing attention in fields like social work, public health, community development, urban planning, education, nursing, sociology, anthropology, and others over the past several decades. Increasingly, academic-community partnerships are at the forefront of improving health for vulnerable populations.

As defined by the Kellogg Foundation, CBPR is a “collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community with the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change to improve community health and eliminate health disparities.” It is an overall orientation to research, which fundamentally changes the relationship between researchers and researched.

With roots in popular education in the “Global South,” including nations of Latin America, Asia and Africa, and in other traditions of action and participatory action research, it has been applied in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere in a range of disciplines and settings.

Purpose and Structure of the Course

The goal of this course is to provide participants with an understanding of theories, principles and strategies of CEnR and CBPR, an appreciation of advantages and limitations of these approaches, and skills necessary for participating effectively in CBPR projects.

The class will meet once a week for three hours. The course’s primary format will reflect participatory research’s philosophical commitment to co-teaching and co-learning as opposed to more didactic pedagogical approaches, and critical small and large group discussion will be emphasized. While case studies of CBPR projects in health will be presented, other case studies are welcome to complement and illustrate principles, issues and challenges raised. Empowerment methodologies and participatory exercises will be included.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to identify, list, describe and/or gain:

ü  The key scientific and ethical rationale, findings and guidelines of community-engaged research;

ü  Significant theoretical and historical perspectives that have shaped the development and evolution of CBPR and other participatory traditions and describe the contributions of each;

ü  The major principles of CBPR and illustrate their relevance with case studies;

ü  Ethics, politics, race, gender and class dimensions of CBPR;

ü  Gain skills in self-reflection through mindfulness and other techniques;

ü  Similarities and differences between CBPR and other forms of CEnR;

ü  Steps in the development of a CBPR project;

ü  Advantages and limitations of CBPR as a method for approaching study and action to address public health, social work, social problems and health disparities;

ü  Issues and approaches to rigor, validity, and measurement of CBPR in health equity research;

ü  Practical experience in participatory methods and reflection on experiences in order to promote self- and community learning in the CBPR process.

ü  Potential co-optation of Community Engagement through unethical partnering

COURSE READINGS

Course Text: Wallerstein, N., Duran, Bonnie, Oetzel, John G., & Minkler, Meredith. (2018). Community-based participatory research for health: Advancing social and health equity (Third ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Brand.

Other articles will also be included on the Canvas webpage.

COURSE STRUCTURE
The course will meet for approximately three hours once a week. In keeping with the philosophical underpinning of popular education and CPBR, class participation is highly valued. Learning will be through discussion of readings, guest lecturers, and critical analysis of experiences and CBPR cases throughout the United States and internationally, and through your own social justice/public health/participatory case study experiences. Students will be expected to read the articles before the class and come prepared to discuss how the theory relates to CBPR practice and to students’ own experiences in their respective fields.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
The main learning method in this course is through discussions of CBPR theory, case studies and original research articles (examining methodology, theory, and challenges); and developing analyses and strategies for practicing community engagement.

1. Course participation (40% grade). This includes attendance, facilitation of reading discussion and/or group exercises, and participation in course large and small group discussions. Active participation means offering to contribute your ideas in class, critiquing articles and providing analyses of your experiences. If you miss more than two sessions, to make up class participation, please submit a written discussion (up to one page) of two of the required articles of the session missed.
2. Small Discussion on Reading: In addition, participants will pick one reading for a mini-report in class and meet as a group for the week’s readings & cover the following material:
3. i) Thesis of article and how they do or don’t fit together
4. ii) Strengths & weaknesses of the article

iii) Lessons learned about CBPR

2. Midterm Requirement (10% of grade). Final paper proposal: (1-3 pages: no references needed) due by Week 5.
3. Final Requirement (50% of grade), a 15-18 page paper (not including references) that may take one of four forms:
4. a) Research Proposal: Post-doctoral and doctoral students can fulfill this final assignment by writing a CBPR research proposal by using NIH guidelines (new format http://grants.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs3 R03, R21, R34 or R01. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/funding
5. b) Demonstration Project Grant Proposal: Students can write a SAMHSA, NIJ, HRSA, or foundation intervention grant application using CBPR as a major approach. See http://www.hrsa.gov/grants/apply/ or http://beta.samhsa.gov/grants.
6. c) Theorizing Practice Experience: Participants engaged in a CBPR project (either now or previously) may submit an analytical review of their experience in which they utilize concepts and readings from class (and others from the literature) to critically evaluate the project and study day-to-day issues in the course of Must include literature, which addresses core issues related to the project, and be more systematic than a journal.
7. d) Analytic Paper: Identify, describe and analyze some aspect of CBPR (see various logic models) with which you wish to achieve greater The paper must include a comprehensive review of background literature of the topic, and may also draw on interviews with key informants, etc., and should be analytical in nature (see Family Council Data, etc.).
8. e) Other Practical CBPR applications: If you have something else in mind, please write a brief outline of how the project will engage the literature and practice experience, and meet with the instructors for approval.

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