| Conceptualization and Purpose of CEnR |
CEnR is a collaborative approach to research with translational impact that is both local and generalizable. CEnR can be implemented across the many facets of an aLHS. “Community” often is difficult to define. CEnR is meant to strengthen connections within the community, build resilience and capacity, and reduce the effects of marginalization while improving community and population health.
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| Value and Investment in CEnR: Institutional, Professional, and Personal |
CEnR is underappreciated within and not well understood by institutions and by major funding agencies (e.g., NIH and CDC). Community engagement is of personal and professional value, which strengthens commitment to authentic engagement.
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| Community-Academic Partnerships |
Engagement differs by community and is influenced by the extent to which communities feel marginalized and how communities perceive research, investigators, and institutions. Partnerships, how they function, and the roles partnership members play in CEnR vary across investigators and across projects. Partnerships must value, respect, and learn how to harness and balance the expertise of the community and the academic partners. CEnR takes time. Forming community-academic partnerships may require “relationship repair” to overcome barriers associated with mistrust and/or previous harms committed in the name of research.
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| Sustainability of CEnR |
Partnerships should not end when the funding ends. Achieving sustainability can be difficult. Sustainability is influenced by the strength and quality of engagement throughout a project, and how well community partners were incorporated into various phases of the research process.
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| Facilitators of CEnR |
Institutional support enhances the ability to conduct CEnR by providing funding, protected time, and respect for community engagement as a valid and important approach to research and health care. Having research resources such as an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) reinforces CENR as integral to the academic mission. An Institutional Review Board that understands and is willing to learn the nuances of CEnR approaches.
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| Challenges of CEnR |
Burn out and strain are possible. Differences in community and academic priorities and goals can impede CEnR efforts, strain relationships, and make it more difficult to collaborate. Institutional and community history influence how well partnerships can be formed and maintained.
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