Liane Ventura, faculty in the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health’s Center for Applied Research and Evaluation (CARE) in Women’s Health, is co-author of an article in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. The article is titled, “Community Engagement in Behavioral Medicine: A Scoping Review.”
Lead author is Reema Persad-Clem of Arcadia University. Christiana Keinath of East Tennessee State University’s Sherrod Library is a co-author. Additional co-authors include faculty from Geisinger College of Health Sciences, Georgetown University, University of California, Columbia University, and Stanford University.
Behavioral medicine has made key contributions toward improving health outcomes. Engaging community partners in research is critical to addressing persistent health inequities. The aim of this scoping review was to explore how researchers engaged community partners within the field of behavioral medicine research from 2005 to 2023. Publication databases and gray literature were searched for research that engaged community partners to address questions relevant to behavioral medicine.
“This manuscript assesses approaches, methods, and tools utilized for community-engaged research efforts as defined by Dice Methods’ Stakeholder Navigator Tool and culminates in specific recommendations for the field,” said Ventura. “This was a collaborative project with colleagues from the Society of Behavioral Medicine.”
Of 1486 articles initially identified, 58 met the inclusion criteria. Most articles used well-known approaches, methods and tools and engaged with healthcare service providers and/or patients. Community partners were most often included in research planning and design, and less often in dissemination. The authors concluded community engagement has considerable potential to address health inequities. They recommended that researchers should incorporate explicit descriptions of community engagement strategies in publications, an outcome that could be facilitated by clear publishing guidelines, structured reporting tools, and clear messaging from funders about the value of community engagement in behavioral medicine research.
“This work has been foundational for my community-engaged research efforts to date,” continued Ventura. “Through these community-engaged research efforts, CARE Women's Health was awarded funding from the Dogwood Health Trust to study Maternal and Child Health throughout Western North Carolina. I look forward to continuing to apply community-engaged approaches to studying Maternal and Child Health.”