Community Engagement as a Methodological Practice

Uzo Anucha School of Social Work, York University

Metropolis, British ColumbiaOctober 22, 2009

Presentation Outline

• Community-Engaged Scholarship:– What, Who, Where, Why, and How?

• The Community-Dialogue Approach• Community Dialogue Projects:

– The Assets Coming Together for Youth Project– The Ethno-cultural Women and Breast Health

Project

• Discussion– Building a Sustainable, Equitable Community-

University Research Partnership

Community-Engaged Research

Universities and funding agencies are increasingly encouraging community-engaged scholarship in which community partners collaborate in defining the focus and implementation of research.

• If a university is a repository of knowledge then some of this knowledge should spill over to the neighboring communities. A university should not be an island where academics reach out at higher and higher levels of knowledge without sharing any of their findings” Muhammad Yunus

Community-Engaged Scholarship

• Community-engaged scholarship has shifted our views on:– The “What, Who,

Where, Why, and How” of research

– Research dissemination

– Research impact

“The scholarship of Engagement means connecting the rich resources of the university to our most pressing social, civic and ethical problems, to our children, to our schools, to our teachers and to our cities....” Ernest Boyer in The Scholarship of 　Engagement

Community-engaged scholarship:A shift in…..

• What is research?– Traditional research (TR): theory– Community Engaged Research (CER): theory +

practice

• Who does research?– TR: profs and students– CER: profs and students + community stakeholders

• Where to do research?– TR: university– CER: university + community

Community-engaged scholarship:A shift in…..

• Why do research?– TR: knowledge / understanding– CER: knowledge / understanding +

helping / making things better /creating change

• How to do research?– TR: method– CER: method + dialogue

The Community-Dialogue Approach

• The Community Dialogue Approach (CDA).– CDA re-imagines community

engagement as a methodological practice and research as a community dialogue that must fully engage the community.

The Community-Dialogue Approach: Two Key Features

• First – A commitment to extensively involve the ‘community’ during all phases of the research:

– from defining the focus of the research to implementation and dissemination of the research.

9

The Continuum of Community Involvement in Research

None A Lot

Top-down Consultation Collaboration Partnership Community-led

TR CER

(Adapted from Winer and Ray 2000)

Involving the Community – some things to consider:

• Embrace a broad definition of ‘community’ and look for ways to widen the margin

• Develop fundable roles for community members

• Build capacity within the community - “ideally, work yourself out of a job but leave a trace”

The Community-Dialogue Approach: Two Key Features

• Second – A commitment to tell multiple stories of the issue / community that is the focus of the research. Multi-methods / multi-focal research:

– allows for the inclusion of multiple voices to inform an understanding of an issue under study.

– avoids the ‘danger of a single story’ about an issue / community.

Why is a ‘Single Story’ of a Community so Dangerous?

• Click here: Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story | Video on TED.com 

Assets Coming Together for Youth Project

The Assets Coming Together for Youth Project

• The ACT for Youth Project* (2009 - 2014) brings together a cross-sectoral alliance of community stakeholders and an interdisciplinary network of scholars in a program of research, capacity building, knowledge transfer and evaluation that is focused on developing a comprehensive youth strategy for youth in urban communities using the Jane-Finch community as a case study.

* Funded through a SSHRC CURA Grant

Two Conceptual Frameworks:

Positive Youth Development (PYD): Youth are not ‘problems’ but ‘assets’ for their communities

Social Justice Approach: A perspective that recognizes that youth in urban communities experience social, political and economical forces such as racism, sexism, poverty, zero-tolerance, unemployment, etc that are ‘toxic’ to their well-being.

ACT for Youth Project Team

A cross-sectoral alliance of community stakeholders and an interdisciplinary network of scholars:

• 31 project team members: – 13 community members– 15 academic members– 3 graduate students

• 27 community partners– Youth-led / Youth-centred Organizations– Multi-service Community Organizations– Faith-based Organizations– Provincial / National Organizations– Coalitions

Governance Structure

Partnership GroupAll project team members, partners, youth reps and students

Co-Chairs: Sue Wilkinson (C); Uzo Anucha (A)Youth-led Subcommittee Co-chairs: Jamal Clarke (C) & Alex Lovell (A)

AdministrationProject Manager: Tka Pinnock

KM / C Manager: Theon Harrichand

Knowledge Mobilization and Communications Committee

Co-Chairs: Sue Levesque (C)Gervan Fearon (A)

Research Advisory CommitteeCo Chairs

Mwarigha S. Mwarigha. (C)Karen Swift (A)

Youth SurveyCo-Chairs:

Pat H-Blackmore (C)

Theresa Knott (A)

Youth VoicesCo-Chairs:

Byron Gray (C)Nombuso Dlamini

(A)

Youth Econ. Co-Chairs:

Marilyn Eisenstat (C)

John Graham (A)

Reframing Discourse

Co-Chairs:Anil Anand (C)

Bonny Ibhawoh (A)

Evaluation / MonitoringCo-Chairs:

Anthony Hutchinson (C)

Robin Wright (A)

Research Impact and Dissemination:A Mix of TR and CER…..

“How do we want the J-F community to remember that the ACT for Youth project was there?

Changed the conversation / public discourse about youth in the J-F community

Increased research skills of youth, community practitioners and students

Increased the community’s awareness of how to create pathways to developmental assets for youth

Generated local-level data that will inform the community’s selection of tested and effective initiatives for PYD

Research Impact and Dissemination:A Mix of TR and CER…..

Translated knowledge through youth-focused dissemination forums and workshops arts-based approaches – exhibitions,

documentaries published materials such as manuals, guides,

curricula, policy-relevant publications; as well as academic books and papers

Enriched curriculum in professional and interdisplinary programmes in universities.

Trained students who are knowledgeable on how research can be directly linked to policy and action

??

The Ethno-Cultural Women and Breast Health Project

The Ethno-cultural Women and Breast Health Project

Community-based health promotion research project focused on better understanding the barriers and facilitators to accessing breast health in Windsor/Essex County within the context of language and cultural differences.

The project focused on ethno-cultural women from continental Africa and Asia (South Asians, East Asians and West Asians) who experience language and cultural challenges.

This project was funded by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Ontario Chapter, Community-based research grant

Multi-Methods….

In-depth interviews with 80 ethno-cultural women to explore their knowledge of breast cancer; beliefs regarding breast cancer; perceptions of health; and breast screening practices. Sampling criteria included ethno-cultural women from

continental Africa and Asia (South Asians, East Asians and West Asians) who were 45 years old or older

Interviews were conducted by community liaisons in the first-language of participants, taped with their consent, transcribed verbatim and translated into English.

The community liaisons used an interview guide that was focused on illuminating the ‘life world’ of participants and their personal experiences with breast health and/or breast cancer treatment.

Participants were paid a small honorarium

Promoting Breast Health for Ethno-cultural Women

Findings informed the development of a health promotion workshop to increase the knowledge of women from ethno-cultural communities on breast cancer and the importance of breast screening: we collaborated with community organizations especially, ethno-

cultural and religious organizations in hosting and delivering the workshops.

we drew on the expertise of members of these organizations in delivering the workshops.

workshops were offered in the language that women preferred and in a setting that they were comfortable in.

we drew on culturally-appropriate materials to enhance the delivery of the workshops.

Promoting Breast Health for Ethno-cultural Women

The project partnered with settlement organizations and cultural /religious associations in delivering 18 health promotion workshops (HPW) to 256 women.

The objective of the HPW was to provide a safe and culturally appropriate environment for ethno-cultural women to engage in dialogue about breast health

Pre and post test evaluation of the workshops indicated that there were positive intervention effects for the women in all areas including general breast cancer and screening knowledge, perceived benefits to clinical breast exams and mammograms, as well as perceived barriers to both clinical breast exams and mammograms

Comments and Questions?

Discussion:

Building a Sustainable, Equitable Community-University Research Partnership

For information on our community-dialogue projects, check out our website

www.yorku.ca/aswreg

Uzo AnuchaTel: 416.726.2100 x 23080email: anucha@yorku.ca