A discussion among deans on advancing community engaged research

Abstract

The benefits of community-engaged research (CEnR) have been documented in the literature. However, the adoption of community engaged (CE) and participatory approaches among health researchers remains limited. The Boston University (BU) Clinical Translational Science Institute's community engagement program initiated a discussion among five BU Deans to explore their approaches to support the practice of CEnR among faculty in their schools. The discussion was recorded and the transcript analyzed to identify and explore themes that emerged. Most strategies discussed by the Deans were not focused on changing institutional systems to advance CEnR. Instead, the analyses showed that institutional CE efforts highlighted by the Deans were focused on "responsibility centered on one person" or "research mentors." Approaches to developing a culture of CEnR that centers responsibility for promoting it on a few people in a university may place significant burden on leadership and researchers and is not an effective way to promote culture change. Systems change is needed to support CEnR, improve accountability, and realize successful partnerships between academic institutions and communities. The dialogue among Deans focused on the topic of CEnR provided an effective method to catalyze discussion and over time may help to strengthen a culture of CEnR research.