Community Engagement in Research Settings Dr Jo Neary

Community Engagement in Research Settings Dr Jo Neary University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Scope of presentation • I will be referring to community engagement in terms of the research process, specifically how researchers understand, experience, and write about community engagement • I will be using examples from research conducted in Africa and Asia, but also in Western Europe and North America

Overview (20 min presentation) • Definitions – What is meant by community engagement • How does community engagement benefit our work • How has this been used in health, education, sustainability

Defining community • Lack of uniformity – Dependent on the nature of the research, goal of engagement, and context the research is carried out – The ‘population under study’ (Seely et al, 1992) – Or the group of individuals within a population who share common characteristics (Rotimi et al) • Who defines community? • More than the target population of the study, and includes wider populations also impacted (Morin et al, 2003)

What is community engagement • Can assist in identifying and clarifying communities understandings of research, and inform process • A dynamic process informed by input, and resulting in adaptive change by stakeholders and relationship transformation (Mac. Queen, et al 2014) • A process of working collaboratively with a group of people on a shared goal or common interest (Tindana et al, 2007)

Research projects and community engagement • Majority of community engagement in research settings occurs post-design stage (after ethical approval, funding has been given) – CE is therefore how we identify community need in the context of the research agenda – Where other topics come up, they may form the basis for future research • No ‘one size fits all’ strategy – Depends on nature of research and goals of engagement

Methods of community engagement • Different methods associated with community engagement – Creative methods for eliciting responses (arts based, visual mapping) – Arranging public forums, advisory panels, attending town meetings

Elements of community based participatory research • Collaborative – Involving community in all/some aspects of research – Building capacity and empowerment – Knowledge transfer and exchange • Meaningful engagement activities – Informing research agenda – Interpretation and dissemination of results

Examples of different types of engagement • Arts based approaches: study of designing a water filter intervention in Nepal (Aggett, 2018) using arts based approaches • Combination of methods: Study of orphaned and separated children in Western Kenya (Kamanda et al, 2013) using public meetings, stakeholders, and an expert forum

Common steps to community engagement • Meeting with community prior to research period beginning – Seek agreement as to research parameters, impact on community, consolidating needs of community with research objectives • Create advisory group with key stakeholders – Useful for recruitment, retention, links with ongoing experience of community • Constant feedback – Factor in meetings with community groups during research, feedback emerging results, seek their input as to meaning of data, also to ensure research can be appropriately applied

Points to consider • Practical guidance on community engagement: – Acknowledge capacity and ability of different stakeholders to participate – Acknowledge accessibility issues (location, time demands) – Ensure the purpose and goals of research is clear – Identify, mobilise and develop relevant attitudes – Provide space for dissenting opinions

Benefits of community engagement • Protect communities that are under investigation – Minimise possibility of exploitation – Ensure respect for recruited participants – Ensure awareness of, and respect for, cultural benefits • Increase the likelihood that research will generate benefits locally – Legitimacy of engagement process – Tailor research for needs of community – Longevity of impact • Learn from communities – Take into account local knowledge regarding social/economic/political landscape Adapted from Mac. Queen et al, 2015

Challenges in community engagement “Despite broad support; guidelines and scholarship regarding community engagement are unsettled which can make it difficult to implement and assess- potentially resulting in missed opportunities, wasted resources and poor decisions” (Mac. Queen et al, 2015)

Challenges in community engagement • Differences in demands of the community and that of the University – Is it to improve the quality of the research (and meet funding criteria) OR to have direct long lasting benefit to community – Focusing the engagement into a workable project • Differences in timeframe • Difficulties in evaluating effectiveness

Summary • Community engagement is becoming an increasingly common component of scientific research, development work, policy making, and technology design • However, what community engagement involves often depends on the research remit and often involves different activities • Overall, we say community engagement is participatory, empowering, and informing and may involve a one off discussion, or continual engagement over time • It is not without its challenges concerning evaluating effectiveness, dealing with different demands, or lack of trained staff • But can offer a lot of added value to research settings

Group Discussion • In your groups, consider: – What are the barriers facing Universities from engaging with local communities – What are successful examples of community engagement in Manila • What are the factors which facilitated successful engagement? • How transferable is this community engagement to other contexts either in the Philippines, or more globally?

Thank you Joanne. Neary@glasgow. ac. uk Website: SUEUAA. org Twitter: @SUEUAA 2

References • Mac. Queen et al (2015) Evaluating community engagement in global health research: the need for metrics BMC Medical Ethics 16: 44 https: //bmcmedethics. biomedcentral. com/articles/10. 1186/s 12910 -015 -0033 -9 • Kamanda et al (2013) Harnessing the power of the grassroots to conduct public health research in sub-Saharan Africa: a case study from western Kenya in the adaption of community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches https: //bmcpublichealth. biomedcentral. com/articles/10. 1186/1471 -2458 -13 -91 • Agget (2018) Turning the gaze: challenges of involving biomedical researchers in community engagement with research in Patan, Nepal https: //www. tandfonline. com/doi/full/10. 1080/09581596. 2018. 14 43203