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Portland

Research article coauthored by Social Work faculty member published in national journal

Head shot photo of Nancy Shore
Nancy Shore, professor in the School of Social Work
Read the study in Progress in Community Health Partnerships

Nancy Shore, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H., professor in the School of Social Work, coauthored an article that was recently published in Progress in Community Health Partnerships (PCHP), a national, peer-reviewed journal whose mission is to identify and publicize model programs that use community partnerships to improve public health, promote progress in the methods of research and education involving community health partnerships, and stimulate action that will improve the health of people and communities.

Under-representation of minorities in research hinders the ability to address persistent societal inequities. To understand how to increase the cultural responsiveness of research, Shore and a community-academic partnership team conducted listening sessions and community forums with African Americans in North Carolina, Native Hawaiians in Hawaii, and Hmong and Latino communities in Minnesota.

The community-academic team consists of Maiyia Yang Kasouaher, Rodolfo Batres, Kathleen Culhane-Pera, and Shannon Pergament, community researchers from SoLaHmo Partnership for Health and Wellness in Minnesota, Al Richmond and Paige Castro-Reyes of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health in North Carolina, and  Mei Ling Isaacs of Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi in Hawaii.

“Strategies to Enhance Culturally Responsive Research: Community Research Recommendation Tool,” explores what culturally responsive research looks like and includes guidelines for engagement of these communities based on an analysis of community members’ experiences and perspectives.

The following Community Research Recommendations were developed based on six overarching themes: Research/learn about community and deepen self-awareness; build trust and relationships with community and researchers; collaborate to choose a topic that matters to the community; plan and do research in equitable community-academic partnerships; respectfully engage people from the community to be a part of the study; and understand results together and share them in ways that strengthen community.

The Community Research Recommendation Tool (CRRT) can be used to guide community members, researchers, and partnerships as they build equitable research partnerships that honor cultural practices, account for socio-political contexts, and aim to redress societal inequities while conducting research. Future research projects related to CRRT could engage with more communities to elicit their research experiences and their desired culturally responsive research elements.

The work was funded by an Engagement Award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Eugene, Washington (EA #6177).

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.