Impact of Integrating Community-Based Participatory Research Into a Baccalaureate Nursing Curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is rapidly gaining respect within the health care community as a means to promote public health and address health disparities. It has also recently been named as one of the competencies needed by public health professionals to be effective. METHOD: This article describes an educational innovation where CBPR is integrated into a baccalaureate nursing curriculum as a strategy to create meaningful learning experiences for nursing students while benefitting the health of the community. RESULTS: The impact of this approach was analyzed over a period of 12 years. The positive outcomes for the community, students, and faculty are described, along with the unique challenges. CONCLUSION: Integrating CBPR into a nursing curriculum is an innovation that is worthy of further assessment.

Conducting Research With Community Groups.

Nurse scientists are increasingly recognizing the necessity of conducting research with community groups to effectively address complex health problems and successfully translate scientific advancements into the community. Although several barriers to conducting research with community groups exist, community-based participatory research (CBPR) has the potential to mitigate these barriers. CBPR has been employed in programs of research that respond in culturally sensitive ways to identify community needs and thereby address current health disparities. This article presents case studies that demonstrate how CBPR principles guided the development of (a) a healthy body weight program for urban, underserved African American women; (b) a reproductive health educational intervention for urban, low-income, underserved, ethnically diverse women; and (c) a pilot anxiety/depression intervention for urban, low-income, underserved, ethnically diverse women. These case studies illustrate the potential of CBPR as an orientation to research that can be employed effectively in non-research-intensive academic environments.

Using community-based participatory research to explore social determinants of women's mental health and barriers to help-seeking in three urban, ethnically diverse, impoverished, and underserved communities.

Depression and anxiety are significant mental health issues that affect urban, ethnically diverse, impoverished women disproportionately. This study sought to identify social determinants of mental health and barriers to help-seeking for this population. Using community based participatory research and focus groups, sixty-one Black, Hispanic, and White women identified economic, family, cultural, and neighborhood issues as perceived determinants of their depression/anxiety. They identified practical, psychosocial, and cultural barriers to their help-seeking behavior. These results can promote women's health by fostering an understanding of social factors as perceived determinants of depression/anxiety and shaping practice and policy initiatives that foster positive aggregate outcomes.

Desired mental health resources for urban, ethnically diverse, impoverished women struggling with anxiety and depression.

Depression and anxiety are mental health issues that disproportionately affect women-particularly when access to culturally sensitive care is limited. The purpose of this study was to identify mental health concerns in three urban, ethnically diverse, underserved, and impoverished neighborhoods using the ideological perspective of community-based participatory research. In the context of long-term partnerships between a department of nursing and these neighborhoods, we recruited 61 women aged 18 to 69 years and collected data via homogeneous focus groups comprised of Black, Hispanic, and White women, respectively. We conducted five of the focus groups in English and one in Spanish. The women perceived anxiety and depression as significant concerns for themselves, their families, and their communities. They used unique community resources to manage mental health issues and desired new resources, including support groups and education.

Clinging to any bit of joy: urban, ethnically diverse, impoverished women's descriptions of anxiety and depression.

Depression and anxiety are mental health issues that disproportionately affect women. This study sought to capture perceptions of anxiety and depression in 3 urban, ethnically diverse, underserved, and impoverished neighborhoods. Using community-based participatory research, in the context of long-term partnerships between a department of nursing and these neighborhoods, the researchers recruited 61 women aged 18 to 69 years. Data were collected via 6 homogeneous focus groups composed of Black, Hispanic, and White women, respectively. The women identified themes pertaining to the manifestations and effects of anxiety and depression as well as unique coping strategies.

Family caregivers and the mental health care system: reality and dreams.

Services directed toward supporting the family caregivers of persons with serious and persistent mental illnesses (SPMIs) are virtually nonexistent despite the fact that such interventions may have the potential to improve outcomes for both the caregivers and the clients. This qualitative study expands our understanding of the caregivers' perspective of nonsupportive and supportive aspects of the current mental health care system as well as desired services. The written narrative responses of 76 family caregivers from National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) chapters across the United States were analyzed using content analysis. The caregivers focused on relationship issues, service issues, and broader social system issues.