Community Based Research

• The Community Based Research Capacity Building Program
• The Meaning of Community Based Research
• What Is Community Based Research (CBR)?
• The Benefits of Community Based Research
• Capacity-Building in Community Based Research
• 2006 Evaluation
• 2004 Environmental Scan

THE COMMUNITY BASED RESEARCH CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAM

In CBR, people living with HIV/AIDS are becoming active collaborators in research that matters to their lives. BC's Community Based Research (CBR) program for HIV/AIDS 2004 - 2008 is hosted at the BC Persons With AIDS Society and funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The program is directed by a Community Based Research Facilitator (CBRF), Dr. Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco. The CBR program supports BC HIV/AIDS community organizations in a number of aspects of their research such as funding, implementation, innovative dissemination of findings, and evidence-based integration of results into your programming and policy. This capacity building program is available to your organization at no cost.

THE MEANING OF COMMUNITY BASED RESEARCH

Why do we engage in research?

• To advance new knowledge.
• To organize new and existing knowledge about people (and organizations) in systematic ways.
• To confirm, legitimate, and validate what we already know through anecdotal information (best practices, behavioural patterns, tradition, organizational history, and even gossip); reinventing the wheel may also be good research.
• To re-present this knowledge and methods to others in ways that make sense to us and to others.

What is Community Based Research (CBR)?

• CBR in HIV/AIDS is a participatory and democratic approach to conventional research that places people living with HIV (PWAs/PHAs) at the centre of its strategy.
• It is as rigorous and ethical as conventional research.
• In CBR, PWAs are not the "subjects" of research; they are active participants in the process from identifying the research questions to collecting and analyzing data to reporting and applying the results.
• CBR may include ownership of research process and results; it makes the researchers accountable and the research transparent.

What are the benefits of Community Based Research (CBR)?

• CBR supports our programming and funding needs with evidence-based results through advocacy and action research.
• CBR provides information that is directly useful to the community in which it takes place.
• CBR enhances credibility and an organization's public profile.
• CBR brings in research dollars.
• CBR strengthens existing partnerships and creates new and equitable partnerships.

What is Capacity-Building in Community Based Research (CBR)?

• It is a long-term democratic educational process in which all participants learn collaboratively about CBR and enhance their potential to carry out CBR-lived experience is as important as expertise.
• It consists of workshops, networking/communications, and hands-on research collaboration.

2006 EVALUATION

Capacity for Change reports the feedback from regional stakeholders and provides recommendations. It also describes the community based research collaborations across the province in case studies.
    
[ View Report ]

2004 ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

CBR: Luxury or Necessity 2004 describes the capacity building needs, existing capacities and challenges in the province. The purpose of the scan is to assess the capacity of community-based organizations to engage successfully in community-based research and evaluation initiatives.
[ View Environmental Scan ]