Community-Based Participatory Research

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) in public health is a collaborative approach to research that equitably involves diverse partners, including community members, organizational representatives, and academic researchers, in all aspects of the research process. All partners contribute their expertise and share responsibility and ownership to enhance understanding of a topic of importance to the community, and to translate the knowledge gained into action to improve community health and well-being. Through research findings that can guide interventions and policy change, CBPR can contribute substantially to epidemiology's key functions of identifying and understanding the distribution and determinants of health and disease, and applying this knowledge to improve the public's health.

CBPR is an established approach to inquiry rooted in several research traditions across multiple disciplines, including participatory research and ...