Research protocol for bridging research, accurate information and dialogue (BRAID)-clinical trials: a mixed-methods study of a community-based intervention to improve trust and diversify participation in clinical trials.

Cultural beliefs, personal experiences, and historic abuses within the healthcare system-rooted in structural racism-all contribute to community distrust in science and medicine. This lack of trust, particularly within underserved communities, contributes to decreased participation in clinical trials and a lack of representation in the data. Open dialogue about community concerns and experiences related to research participation and medical care processes can help build trust and change attitudes and behaviors that affect community health. This protocol outlines an approach to increase trust in science and clinical trials among communities in the Bronx, New York that are typically underrepresented in research data. Bridging Research, Accurate Information and Dialogue (BRAID) is a two-phased, evidence-based community engagement model that creates safe spaces for bilateral dialogues between trusted community messengers, and clinicians and scientists. The team will conduct a series of BRAID Conversation Circles on the topic of clinical trials with local trusted community messengers. Participants will be members of the community who are perceived as "trusted messengers" and can represent the community's voice because they have insight into "what matters" locally. Conversation Circles will be audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed to identify emergent challenges and opportunities surrounding clinical trial participation. These key themes will subsequently inform the codesign and co-creation of tailored messages and outreach efforts that community participants can disseminate downstream to their social networks. Surveys will be administered to all participants before and after each Conversation Circle to understand participants experience and evaluate changes in knowledge and attitudes about clinical trials, including protections for research participants the advantages of having diverse representation. Changes in motivation and readiness to share accurate clinical trial information downstream will also be assessed. Lastly, we will measure participants dissemination of codesigned science messages through their social networks by tracking participant specific resource URLs of materials and videos posted on a BRAID website. This protocol will assess the effectiveness and adoptability of an innovative CBPR model that can be applied to a wide range of public health issues and has the potential to navigate the ever-changing needs of the communities that surround health systems.

Protocol for COACH, an evidence-based intervention for improved head impact safety in youth American football developed using a community-engaged approach.

Subconcussive, repetitive head impacts sustained in collision sports may negatively affect brain health. American football practices are controlled environments amenable to intervention. Engaging community members is essential for successful development, implementation, and sustainability of viable interventions. The objective of this study is to develop and pilot test an evidence-based intervention to reduce head impact exposure in youth American football (i.e., football), using a community-engaged approach. This manuscript describes the co-design of the intervention and associated implementation plan and the study protocol for evaluating the effectiveness and feasibility of the intervention and implementation plan. In the first part of this study, focus groups with parents and coaches, and individual interviews with organizational leaders associated with two teams at the middle school level were conducted. An anonymous survey assessing beliefs and perceptions of non-concussive head impacts was given to parents, coaches, and organizational leaders within the local youth football league. Following the football season, qualitative and quantitative data describing determinants of head acceleration events in football were shared with 12 stakeholders of coaches, league and school administrators, parents, an athletic trainer, and local university player development director. Together, we co-designed COACH (COmmunities Aligned to reduce Concussion and Head impact exposure) and implementation plan using a strategic planning approach. The preliminary effectiveness and feasibility were assessed in the second part of this study. Youth football players participating on the teams in year 1 (control teams) were fitted with mouthpiece-based head kinematic sensors which measure head acceleration events (HAEs). HAEs were collected and quantified during team activities. Preliminary effectiveness of the intervention to reduce HAEs was measured among two new teams pilot testing COACH with mouthpiece-based sensors, while simultaneously monitoring implementation of the intervention. We report our study design and evaluation, and opportunities and challenges with our approach. The results will inform a future full-scale pragmatic trial to assess the implementation and effectiveness of the intervention program. NCT04908930.

Comparing emergency department versus high school-based recruitment for a hypertension research study with adult-youth dyads.

Dyads can be challenging to recruit for research studies, but detailed reporting on strategies employed to recruit adult-adolescent dyads is rare. We describe experiences recruiting adult-youth dyads for a hypertension education intervention comparing recruitment in an emergency department (ED) setting with a school-based community setting. We found more success in recruiting dyads through a school-based model that started with adolescent youth (19 dyads in 7 weeks with < 1 hour recruitment) compared to an ED-based model that started with adults (2 dyads in 17 weeks with 350 hours of recruitment). These findings can benefit future adult-youth dyad recruitment for research studies.

Social Norms: A Missing Ingredient of Programs Seeking to Foster Women's Agency in Nutrition.

Social expectations play a crucial role in shaping dietary practices among women and children. However, despite significant attention to promoting social and behavioral change in nutrition-focused programs and research, the influence of social norms on women's agency in enhancing nutrition practices is often overlooked. In this perspective, we advocate for a paradigm shift by incorporating a "norms aware" approach. This underscores the importance of recognizing, measuring, and addressing the societal constraints and barriers that women and children encounter in their journey to improved nutrition. Drawing on insights from the United States Agency for International Development-funded Kulawa project in Niger, we highlight the implications of using social norms diagnosis tools to understand the contextual dynamics within child-feeding practices, informing intervention design, and targeted populations. Integrating a norms perspective into nutrition programming and research does not require an overhaul, but rather a nuanced application of understanding of contextual drivers, such as social norms and agency, that have been underemphasized. We delve into the role of the socio-ecologic system, underscore the importance of addressing power imbalances related to gender and social hierarchy, and emphasize that programs targeting norms should aim for community rather than individual-level change. We provide guidance for programs and research integrating a norms perspective, as well as examples of how tools, such as the Social Norms Exploration Tool and Social Norms Analysis Plot framework, can be applied to identify and prioritize social norms, facilitating the design of "norms aware" programs. Additionally, we highlight the critical role of community engagement and discuss the value of using qualitative and quantitative approaches to document the process and outcomes of social norms research, program design, and implementation. When we recognize the role of social norms in nutrition as a missing ingredient in nutrition research, programming, and social and behavior change strategies, we create opportunities for more effective and contextually relevant research and interventions that address the complexities of enhancing nutrition practices among women and children.

Bridging the Telehealth Digital Divide With Collegiate Navigators: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study of a Service-Learning Health Disparities Course.

BACKGROUND: Limited digital literacy is a barrier for vulnerable patients accessing health care. OBJECTIVE: The Stanford Technology Access Resource Team (START), a service-learning course created to bridge the telehealth digital divide, trained undergraduate and graduate students to provide hands-on patient support to improve access to electronic medical records (EMRs) and video visits while learning about social determinants of health. METHODS: START students reached out to 1185 patients (n=711, 60% from primary care clinics of a large academic medical center and n=474, 40% from a federally qualified health center). Registries consisted of patients without an EMR account (at primary care clinics) or patients with a scheduled telehealth visit (at a federally qualified health center). Patient outcomes were evaluated by successful EMR enrollments and video visit setups. Student outcomes were assessed by reflections coded for thematic content. RESULTS: Over 6 academic quarters, 57 students reached out to 1185 registry patients. Of the 229 patients contacted, 141 desired technical support. START students successfully established EMR accounts and set up video visits for 78.7% (111/141) of patients. After program completion, we reached out to 13.5% (19/141) of patients to collect perspectives on program utility. The majority (18/19, 94.7%) reported that START students were helpful, and 73.7% (14/19) reported that they had successfully connected with their health care provider in a digital visit. Inability to establish access included a lack of Wi-Fi or device access, the absence of an interpreter, and a disability that precluded the use of video visits. Qualitative analysis of student reflections showed an impact on future career goals and improved awareness of health disparities of technology access. CONCLUSIONS: Of the patients who desired telehealth access, START improved access for 78.7% (111/141) of patients. Students found that START broadened their understanding of health disparities and social determinants of health and influenced their future career goals.

Co-creating a Mpox Elimination Campaign in the WHO European Region: The Central Role of Affected Communities.

Between May 2022 and September 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe engaged in a collaborative effort with affected communities to address the outbreak of mpox in the region. This concerted endeavor led to the development of a risk communication campaign specifically tailored to address the perceptions and needs of the target audience, thereby contributing to the control and the long-term goal of mpox elimination. Various community engagement interventions were implemented, including the establishment of an informal civil society organizations' working group to provide feedback on the WHO mpox campaign, webinars targeting event organizers, and roundtable discussions with country-level responders. The invaluable feedback garnered from the community was utilized to customize materials and extend outreach to groups that may have been overlooked in the initial response. This successful initiative underscored the immense potential of placing communities at the forefront of emergency response efforts, equipping them with the necessary resources, engagement, and empowerment. This offers 1 model of co-creation that can be applied to health emergencies. It is asserted that the pivotal role played by communities in this response should be recognized as a valuable lesson and incorporated into all emergency responses, ensuring sustained community involvement and empowerment throughout the entire emergency cycle.

Community-engaged research: Bringing the science of developmental psychopathology into the real world.

The science of developmental psychopathology has made outstanding progress over the past 40 years in understanding adaptive and maladaptive developmental processes across the life span. Yet most of this work has been researcher driven with little involvement of community partners in the research process, limiting the potential public health significance of our work. To continue to advance the field we must move beyond the physical and conceptual walls of our research laboratories and into the real world. In this article, we define and describe the importance of community-engaged research, and present our overarching principles for engaging the community including practicing respect, shared power and decision-making, prioritizing the needs of the community, and engaging in consistent and transparent communication. We present several associated recommendations for best practice and highlight examples from our own research that is grounded in a developmental psychopathology perspective to illustrate these practices. Recommendations for the future of the discipline of development and psychopathology, with emphasis on training and continuing education, are described.

Barriers and enablers to breast cancer screening in rural South Africa.

BACKGROUND:  The breast cancer burden on the South African healthcare system is severe, with rural South African women often diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease. South Africa's rural areas are classified as low-resource settings with limited medical services and infrastructure. The impact of breast cancer on rural communities in South Africa requires ongoing research to better understand the severity of this disease among one of the most vulnerable populations. OBJECTIVES:  This study aimed to explore the barriers and enablers of breast cancer screening among rural South African women. METHOD:  An exploratory qualitative study was utilised. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 22 rural South African women. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. This study utilised the care-seeking behaviour theory as its theoretical framework. RESULTS:  Participants identified many barriers to breast cancer screening, including individual affordability, transportation, rural services, infrastructure, health professional behaviour, and the lack of educational materials. Several factors are suggested to enable the screening of breast cancer in rural South Africa, including breast cancer campaigns, health education, the involvement of key stakeholders, and promotional materials. CONCLUSION:  Despite the many barriers to breast cancer screening among rural South African women, there is still hope in implementing the various promotional tools outlined in this study and ensuring that breast self-examination is an alternative, affordable screening method.Contribution: The purpose of this article is to contribute to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, which focusses reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases, including cancer.

Integrating user- and data-driven weather forecasts to develop legitimate, credible, and salient information services for smallholders in the Global South.

Climate-related risks and variability pose significant challenges to the livelihoods and food security of smallholder farmers practicing rainfed agriculture. Many smallholders have limited access to weather information from climate services, and this information is often not tailored to their specific context and needs. Therefore, they rely on local ecological knowledge. This study utilizes the second generation of climate services, which provide demand-driven forecast information systems through mobile apps. We present three cases from agricultural communities in Guatemala, Bangladesh, and Ghana where we collaborated with farmers to develop local weather forecasts (LF) and combined them with scientific weather forecasts (SF) to create hybrid weather forecasts (HF). The integration of user-driven forecasts (LF) and data-driven forecasts (SF) enhances the legitimacy of the service, thereby increasing farmers' trust and credibility by providing skilful forecasts. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that the hybrid weather forecast approach facilitates climate-smart, adaptive agricultural decision-making, enhancing the resilience and capacity of smallholder farmers in the Global South to adapt to a changing climate.

Advocating with Community: A Community-Engaged Advocacy Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents.

BACKGROUND: In 2022, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education updated its competencies for residents in all specialties to include health policy advocacy. A recent systematic review shows that while a growing number of residency curricula include policy advocacy, few programs join in policy advocacy efforts with community partners. AIM: To create a community-engaged advocacy curriculum for residents that is part of a mutually beneficial partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs). SETTING: A university-affiliated residency program and CBOs within a large US city. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty internal medicine residents and local CBO clients and staff. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The curriculum was delivered over 2 years and included advocacy skills sessions, service learning and reflection at the CBOs, and direct policy advocacy. PROGRAM EVALUATION: Residents and CBO partners were surveyed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. Residents perceived that the program enhanced their confidence and skills in community engagement and policy advocacy. All CBO staff agreed that the partnership advanced the CBO's mission, residents' volunteering provided beneficial service, and residents had a meaningful impact on their advocacy efforts. DISCUSSION: Our community-engaged advocacy curriculum successfully met its aims and has contributed to policy change. Future directions include building a statewide coalition of residents and CBOs.

Bridging the Gap: A Community Advisory Board Promoting Community Engagement in Cancer Research for Ethnically Diverse Populations.

Prostate cancer disproportionately affects Black men in the United States, leading to higher mortality rates and health disparities. In addition, based on historical mistreatment and discrimination and the resulting distrust of the medical system, Black populations are consistently underrepresented in health care-related research. Addressing these challenges requires community-driven approaches integrating diverse perspectives and fostering equitable health outcomes. This article describes the formation and impact of The Multidisciplinary Health Outcomes Research and Economics (MORE) Lab Community Advisory Board (CAB) at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences. We purposefully recruited Black men with CaP and Black health care professionals to serve on a CAB and advise on ongoing research to address quality of life (QoL) issues in ethnically diverse Black CaP survivors. The CAB seeks to mitigate CaP disparities and improve health equity by empowering Black voices and promoting collaborative research practices. The MORE Lab CAB has successfully provided a venue for community members to contribute to designing a culturally relevant research program to improve the QoL in ethnically diverse Black men with CaP. The CAB has been instrumental in developing research goals and tools, implementing a series of town hall meetings to educate and support Black CaP survivors, and disseminating research findings. In conclusion, CABs are potentially critical in guiding research, enhancing community engagement, and advocating for culturally responsive health interventions.

Establishing NIH Community Implementation Programs to improve maternal health.

The United States has seen increasing trends of maternal mortality in recent years. Within this health crisis there are large disparities whereby underserved and minoritized populations are bearing a larger burden of maternal morbidity and mortality. While new interventions to improve maternal health are being developed, there are opportunities for greater integration of existing evidence-based interventions into routine practice, especially for underserved populations, including those residing in maternity care deserts. In fact, over 80 percent of maternal deaths are preventable with currently available interventions. To spur equitable implementation of existing interventions, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute launched the Maternal-Health Community Implementation Program (MH-CIP) in 2021. In 2023, the National Institutes of Health's Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) initiative partnered with the NHLBI to launch the IMPROVE Community Implementation Program (IMPROVE-CIP). By design, CIPs engage disproportionately impacted communities and partner with academic researchers to conduct implementation research. This commentary overviews the impetus for creating these programs, program goals, structure, and offers a high-level overview of the research currently supported. Lastly, the potential outcomes of these programs are contextualized within the landscape of maternal health initiatives in the United States.

An 'alcohol health champions' intervention to reduce alcohol harm in local communities: a mixed-methods evaluation of a natural experiment.

Background: Globally alcohol consumption is a leading risk factor for premature death and disability and is associated with crime, social and economic consequences. Local communities may be able to play a role in addressing alcohol-related issues in their area. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and cost-benefit of an asset-based community development approach to reducing alcohol-related harm and understand the context and factors that enable or hinder its implementation. Design: A mixed-methods evaluation. Area-level quasi-experimental trial analysed using four different evaluation methods (a stepped-wedge design where each area was a control until it entered the intervention, comparison to matched local/national controls and comparison to synthetic controls), alongside process and economic evaluations. Setting: Ten local authorities in Greater Manchester, England. Participants: The outcomes evaluation was analysed at an area level. Ninety-three lay persons representing nineareas completed questionnaires, with 12 follow-up interviews in five areas; 20 stakeholders representing ten areas were interviewed at baseline, with 17 follow-up interviews in eight areas and 26 members of the public from two areas attended focus groups. Interventions: Professionals in a co-ordinator role recruited and supported lay volunteers who were trained to become alcohol health champions. The champion's role was to provide informal, brief alcohol advice to the local population and take action to strengthen restrictions on alcohol availability. Main outcome measures: Numbers of alcohol-related hospital admissions, accident and emergency attendances, ambulance call-outs, street-level crime and antisocial behaviour in the intervention areas (area size: 1600-5500 residents). Set-up and running costs were collected alongside process evaluation data exploring barriers and facilitators. Data sources: Routinely collected quantitative data on outcome measures aggregated at the intervention area and matched control and synthetic control areas. Data from policy documents, licensing registers, meeting notes, invoices, time/cost diaries, training registers, questionnaires, interviews, reflective diaries and focus groups. Results: The intervention rolled out in nine out of ten areas, seven of which ran for a full 12 months. Areas with better-established infrastructure at baseline were able to train more champions. In total, 123 alcohol health champions were trained (95 lay volunteers and 28 professionals): lay volunteers self-reported positive impact. Champions engaged in brief advice conversations more readily than taking action on alcohol availability. There were no consistent differences in the health and crime area-level indicators between intervention areas and controls, as confirmed by using three different analysis methods for evaluating natural experiments. The intervention was not found to be cost-beneficial. Limitations: Although the sequential roll-out order of the intervention was randomised, the selection of the intervention areas was not. Self-reported impact may have been subject to social desirability bias due to the project's high profile. Conclusions: There was no measurable impact on health and crime outcomes. Possible explanations include too few volunteers trained, volunteers being unwilling to get involved in licensing decisions, or that the intervention has no direct impact on the selected outcomes. Future work: Future similar interventions should use a coproduced community outcomes framework. Other natural experiment evaluations should use methodological triangulation to strengthen inferences about effectiveness. Trial registration: This trial is registered as ISRCTN81942890. Funding: This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme (NIHR award ref: 15/129/03) and is published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 12, No. 9. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.

Alcohol consumption puts an individual's health and social relationships at risk of harm. The more a person drinks, the more harmful it is. The harmful effects can place a burden on emergency services and hospitals. We wanted to find out whether community members can make a difference by taking action to address alcohol harm in their local area. Local councils in Greater Manchester developed a project called Communities in Charge of Alcohol, where volunteers in targeted local areas were trained to become 'alcohol health champions'. Alcohol health champions gave alcohol-related brief advice to people to help them drink less. They had a say about when, where and how alcohol is sold by reporting issues to their local council. We compared numbers of alcohol-related hospital admissions, accident and emergency attendances, ambulance call-outs and reports of crime and antisocial behaviour between areas that had alcohol health champions with other similar areas in England that did not. We calculated how much it costs to run and whether Communities in Charge of Alcohol could save society money. Not as many volunteers came forward to become an alcohol health champion as hoped for. Those who did give alcohol-related brief advice to people. They preferred not to report issues about alcohol sales to their local council, either because it was too complicated or because they did not want to be called a 'grass'. We did not find levels of alcohol harm changed in the Communities in Charge of Alcohol areas. Because of this, we could not demonstrate that Communities in Charge of Alcohol could save society money. Getting involved in alcohol licensing decisions needs to be made easier for communities, with more anonymity, through the support of professionals. More work needs to be done to understand whether giving brief advice can reduce alcohol harm in whole communities.

Community events to increase uptake of Indigenous-specific health assessments: a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Innovative, culturally safe strategies are required to address the disproportionate level of poorer health outcomes for Indigenous people in Australia compared to non-Indigenous populations. An emerging body of evidence supports the efficacy of Indigenous-specific health assessments, or health checks, despite poor uptake since their introduction in Australia. This poor uptake is attributed to a range of system, patient and provider barriers. Services have begun to deliver preventative health assessments as a community event to address barriers faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in accessing quality preventative care. However, there is a lack of literature exploring how community events have increased the uptake of Indigenous-specific health assessments to date. We expect this review will underpin a larger study to better understand how community engagement supports increased uptake of health checks. The objective of this scoping review was to investigate what is currently known about how community events have been used to increase uptake of Indigenous-specific health assessments. METHODS: A scoping review guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews was conducted. A search was completed in eight electronic databases using keywords relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, community engagement and preventative health assessments. Published and unpublished sources of evidence were included in the review. As this study aims to explore the entire published literature on the topic, and given there was an expectation that the subject itself is specific, no date ranges were included in the search criteria. Extracted data were reviewed by numerical analysis and conventional content analysis to conduct a narrative synthesis, allowing a summary of the main findings, and addressing the research question. RESULTS: Eighteen sources met the eligibility criteria and were included in the scoping review. Programs varied widely in the characteristics of program design and delivery across geographical location, setting of delivery, program format and target population. Programs employed a range of methods to engage with community, including incentivising participation, identifying and addressing specific community healthcare needs, and utilising cultural or sporting ambassadors to promote the program. The conventional content analysis identified three key themes regarding how community events have been used to increase uptake of health checks: adapting the program to the community; providing a culturally safe participant experience; and prioritising community engagement. DISCUSSION: The findings indicate that an individualised approach to community events is important to their success. Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Services may be best placed to have responsibility for program design and implementation to ensure community control of programs. Aboriginal health workers play a critical role in ensuring the programs deliver culturally safe healthcare, and a clear role for Aboriginal health workers in program delivery is important in their success. An authentic commitment to community engagement is important for program uptake, including the use of passionate cultural ambassadors and individualised cultural programs. CONCLUSION: Community events are a promising and well-regarded strategy to increase uptake of Indigenous-specific health assessments. Future research that explores how specific community supports increase engagement with Health Check Day programs and evaluates the delivery of 715 health check programs will strengthen the capacity of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services to delivery this intervention effectively.

Community engagement in mobile and hard-to-reach populations: a community-based intervention for malaria elimination in a tri-national region of the Guiana Shield.

Several countries of the Guiana Shield are aiming at the control and elimination of malaria in areas where Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) activities predominate, raising questions about how to strengthen community engagement to improve the effectiveness of health programs. The Curema project focuses its intervention on the mobile and hard-to-reach ASGM population, complementing the efforts of national programs in the Guiana Shield. The Curema intervention combines targeted drug administration for suspected Plasmodium vivax asymptomatic carriers, the Malakit distribution, and health education activities. The primary goals of this manuscript are to outline a pathway to foster community participation in the Curema project aimed at eliminating malaria. Thus, it presents a vision of the challenges that the AGSM community poses in terms of community participation for an asymptomatic problem; and highlights the community-based model and the Information, Education and Communication (IEC) components as foundations for participation. In addition, it also presents culturally sensitive IEC strategies designed through iterative and collaborative consultative processes and other bottom-up outreach activities. The community engagement approach facilitates adaptability and responsiveness in a complex, evolving context increasing the effectiveness of interventions.

Factors influencing community engagement approaches used in Aedes aegypti management in Cairns, Australia.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: An important part of preventing and managing Aedes-borne mosquito disease outbreak risk is engaging the community. Research shows that high-income countries tend to use top-down measures for Aedes mosquito management, favouring educational approaches to engage the community over participatory approaches that actively involve and empower the community in addressing disease risk. Little is known about the reasons behind the use of these approaches and how they could be strengthened. This research explores the community engagement approaches used in Aedes mosquito management in Cairns, Queensland, Australia and the factors influencing the choice of these approaches. METHODS: A case study design was used, drawing on two qualitative methods-key informant, semi-structured interviews (n = 25), and a document review (n = 20). Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse and attribute meaning from the data. RESULTS: Various approaches were used to engage the community, including direct interaction through door-to-door inspections, broad outreach via mass media campaigns, and community participation in a novel mosquito replacement strategy. Factors influencing the choice of these approaches included government legislative responsibilities, research-related ethical obligations, work norms within local government and public health units, the perceived importance of gaining community trust, constraints on workforce capacity, time and funding. CONCLUSIONS: There were multiple factors influencing the community engagement approaches used in this study. Resource constraints, institutional norms and prevailing attitudes and beliefs were identified as hindering the use of more empowering approaches to engaging the community. These barriers should be considered and addressed in the planning of Aedes mosquito management to better support community engagement in this setting. SO WHAT?: Community engagement is an important aspect of managing the Aedes mosquito disease threat. With the global increase in Aedes mosquito-borne disease risk, these findings can help other at-risk settings understand potential organisational impediments to engaging the community. This is particularly important when advocating for the inclusion of bottom-up approaches in policy, and to ensure sufficient resources are allocated to strengthen community engagement in Aedes mosquito management.

Preserving cultural heritage: A community-centric approach to safeguarding the Khulubvi Traditional Temple Malawi.

The study investigates cultural heritage conservation through community-based participatory research, focusing on preserving the Khulubvi Traditional Temple. It addresses challenges from religious, societal, and economic changes and the importance of integrating heritage into education. It emphasizes technology's role in maintaining sacred narratives. Qualitative methods, such as interviews and thematic analysis, reveal community efforts and modern challenges. The study concludes with a call to embed heritage in formal education and highlights the community's crucial role in cultural legacy, contributing to the discourse on heritage preservation.

Community partner coauthorship for increased implementation science impact: Strengthening capacity and engagement.

Engaging diverse partners in each phase of the research process is the gold standard of community-engaged research and adds value to the impact of implementation science. However, partner engagement in dissemination, particularly meaningful involvement in developing peer-reviewed manuscripts, is lacking. The Implementation Science Centers in Cancer Control are using the Translational Science Benefits Model to demonstrate the impact of our work beyond traditional metrics, including building capacity and promoting community engagement. This paper presents a case example of one center that has developed a policy for including community partners as coauthors. Standard practices are used to foster clear communications and bidirectional collaboration. Of published papers focused on center infrastructure and implementation research pilots, 92% have community partner coauthors. This includes 21 individuals in roles ranging from physician assistant to medical director to quality manager. Through this intentional experience of co-creation, community partners have strengthened implementation science expertise. Community coauthors have also ensured that data interpretation and dissemination reflect real-world practice environments and offer sustainable strategies for rapid translation to practice improvements. Funders, academic journals, and researchers all have important roles to play in supporting community coauthors as critical thought partners who can help to narrow the gap between research and practice.

SEED: A novel web-based data visualization platform to visualize, communicate, and explore social, environmental, and equity drivers of health.

Multisector stakeholders, including, community-based organizations, health systems, researchers, policymakers, and commerce, increasingly seek to address health inequities that persist due to structural racism. They require accessible tools to visualize and quantify the prevalence of social drivers of health (SDOH) and correlate them with health to facilitate dialog and action. We developed and deployed a web-based data visualization platform to make health and SDOH data available to the community. We conducted interviews and focus groups among end users of the platform to establish needs and desired platform functionality. The platform displays curated SDOH and de-identified and aggregated local electronic health record data. The resulting Social, Environmental, and Equity Drivers (SEED) Health Atlas integrates SDOH data across multiple constructs, including socioeconomic status, environmental pollution, and built environment. Aggregated health prevalence data on multiple conditions can be visualized in interactive maps. Data can be visualized and downloaded without coding knowledge. Visualizations facilitate an understanding of community health priorities and local health inequities. SEED could facilitate future discussions on improving community health and health equity. SEED provides a promising tool that members of the community and researchers may use in their efforts to improve health equity.

Stroke prevention education in African Americans: Lessons learned from a community based participatory feasibility study.

PURPOSE: To present information on the feasibility and acceptability of a Stroke Champion "train-the-trainer" program, including lessons learned, for dissemination of stroke prevention knowledge and resources among African Americans (AA) residing within the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN metropolitan area. DESIGN: One arm pre-post-test design. METHODS: Twelve AA "Stroke Champions" were recruited to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an online stroke prevention education curriculum and peer-to-peer education. RESULTS: We successfully designed, developed, and implemented a stroke prevention education website for community use. All Stroke Champions completed initial training and evaluation, and reported the usefulness and usability of the website., However, they also reported that they needed more facilitation support from our research team to deliver education in the community. CONCLUSION: Engaging Stroke Champions is potentially beneficial in increasing stroke prevention knowledge. However, Stroke Champions need more support to effectively engage, educate, and disseminate knowledge among peers.