Combining Community Participatory Research with a Random-Sample Health Survey

Audience: The Healthy People objective was to get below 15% of adult smokers in 2000, and to further reduce this rate to 12% in 2010.  The 2010 national rate, estimated at 19.3%, shows that efforts have been insufficient to achieve these targets; in that respect, Florida is average, with estimated rates of 16.0-18.9%.  However, studies in underserved communities show smoking rates far above their respective State level, indicating that these communities would lag far behind the “healthy people” objective unless specially tailored initiatives could be implemented.  Audience members would include researchers and community leaders interested in health disparities.

Key Points: The CBPR literature suggests that little is known about questionnaire design, sampling, and related fieldwork issues when conducting random-sample studies coupled with a CBPR approach.  We sought to address the gap in the literature by examining the implementation of a random survey in an underserved community where the CBPR framework has been employed.  Our research suggests that academically demanding research is feasible when using a CBPR framework. Additional efforts are needed to ensure that each partner is engaged and multiple partners’ diverse perspectives, insights, and priorities are acknowledged.

Educational Experience: Audience members will be able to understand the feasibility of conducting random sampling techniques within a CBPR framework.

Benefits: Academic/community partners are able to work together to ensure each group’s requirements are met while adhering to the principles entailed in CBPR.