A commentary published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health by University of Illinois Cancer Center members, community partners and others discusses how institutional barriers create challenges in community-engaged research (CEnR) and how to alleviate them.
CEnR is vital to addressing cancer health inequities but it involves coordination throughout the research process between community-based organizations and research institutions. Because institutional policies can lag behind, particularly human participation protection training, that can create barriers for community partners that are burdensome to overcome, the commentary authors explain. The commentary is entitled “Are We the Problem? A Call to Action for Addressing Institutional Challenges to Engaging Community Partners in Research.”
Commentary Details
The commentary highlights challenges and opportunities for institutional improvement encountered by the authors in their ongoing study, Fostering Opportunities in Research through Messaging and Education (FOR ME), which is focused on promoting shared decision-making around clinical trial participation among Black women diagnosed with breast cancer. FOR ME has a partnership with a community-based organization (CBO) that addresses the needs of Black women with breast cancer.
The commentary authors are: Neha Hippalgaonkar, MD, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago Hematology and Oncology Fellow; Cancer Center member Ryan Huu-Tuan Nguyen, DO; Eliza Brumer Cohn, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington; Joseph Horowitz, MD, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago Pediatrics Resident; Ana Williams Waite, DDS, MHA, MPH, Cancer Center Senior Research Specialist/Project Director; Tigist Mersha, MSW, MPH, University of Illinois Chicago Graduate Research Assistant; Christen Sandoval, DrPH student, UIC School of Public Health; Sarah Khan, MD, Sinai Chicago; Kauthar Salum, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Project Coordinator; Paris Thomas, PhD, Equal Hope Executive Director; Anne Marie Murphy, PhD, UIC School of Public Health; Beulah Brent, Sisters Working It Out Chief Executive Officer; Lolita Coleman, Sisters Working It Out; Paramjeet Khosla, MD, Sinai Chicago; Kent F. Hoskins, MD, UI Health Oncology Service Line Medical Director and Cancer Center member; Vida Henderson, PhD, PharmD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center; and Leslie R. Carnahan, PhD, Cancer Center member.