Barriers and Facilitators to Engaging Communities in Gender-Based Violence Prevention following a Natural Disaster.

Humanitarian workers in disaster settings report a dramatic increase in gender-based violence (GBV). This was true after the 2010 Haiti earthquake when women and girls lost the relative security of their homes and families. Researchers from the United States Virgin Islands and the United States mainland responded by collaborating with Haitian colleagues to develop GBV-focused strategies. To start, the research team performed a situational analysis to insure that the project was culturally, ethically, and logistically appropriate. The aim of this paper is to describe how the situational analysis framework helped the researchers effectively approach this community. Using post-earthquake Haiti as an exemplar, we identify key steps, barriers, and facilitators to undertaking a situational analysis. Barriers included logistics, infrastructure, language and community factors. Facilitators included established experts, organizations and agencies. Researchers in such circumstances need to be respectful of community members as experts and patient with local environmental and cultural conditions.

Developing a clinical research associate training program at Dillard University: the impact of collaboration.

In 2010 Dillard University and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans collaborated to secure a five year-grant from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health to establish a Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHHDRC) located on the campus of Dillard University. The MHHDRC is the first Federally funded Center of Excellence in the state of Louisiana. Three cores of the Center operate to achieve its mission. One core includes a clinical research associate (CRA) training program. The major goal of the program is to increase the number of minority CRAs in the state of Louisiana, especially in New Orleans and, ultimately promote greater participation and retention of minorities in clinical trials research. This article discusses the initiation of the CRA training program, its planning, community outreach, implementation, integration of multiple resources and role of collaboration in the development of the MHHDRC including accomplishments, challenges and future plans.