Improving health outcomes and addressing health disparities requires a unified effort from all key stakeholders. The University of South Florida (USF) Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE) program embodies this principle through its comprehensive 360-degree community engagement model. This model is designed to maximize the impact of everyone involved in bridging the gap in health equity and ensuring better health outcomes for all, particularly within minority and medically underserved communities. The Usf Care Program achieves this through several key components, each playing a vital role in fostering collaboration and driving meaningful change.
Advisory Board: Championing Community Interests and Program Oversight
The USF CARE program is guided by a dedicated Advisory Board. This board is crucial for advocating for and overseeing research activities within diverse communities that are often medically underserved and underrepresented. It plays a pivotal role in sustaining the CARE program by providing essential oversight of all major activities and cultivating strategic partnerships at both local and national levels.
The Advisory Board’s core functions are multifaceted and designed to strengthen the program’s effectiveness:
- Strengthening University-Community Relationships: The board actively works to build and maintain robust relationships between research institutions, like USF, and the communities they serve. This fosters trust and ensures research is community-centered.
- Community Participant Protection and Advocacy: A primary concern is the well-being of community participants involved in clinical and translational research. The Advisory Board provides crucial oversight, protection, and advocacy for these individuals, ensuring ethical and respectful research practices.
- Expanding Clinical Trial Access: The board is dedicated to creating and enhancing opportunities for underrepresented communities to participate in clinical trials. This is vital for ensuring that research benefits all populations and addresses specific health needs within diverse groups.
- Empowering Community Decision-Making: The USF CARE program prioritizes community empowerment. The Advisory Board ensures that underrepresented communities have genuine decision-making opportunities concerning research activities that directly involve their members. This collaborative approach ensures research is relevant and responsive to community needs.
- Building Trust Between Institutions and Communities: A foundational goal is to enhance and expand trust between academic and clinical institutions and the communities they serve. Historical mistrust can be a barrier to research participation and healthcare access. The Advisory Board actively works to bridge this gap through transparency, engagement, and demonstrated commitment to community well-being.
Community-Led Research Review Committee (RRC): Community Gatekeepers in Research
Extending the reach and impact of the Advisory Board is the Community-led Research Review Committee (RRC). This committee is composed of 5-7 respected community members who act as crucial gatekeepers to the broader community. The RRC plays a unique role in bridging the gap between researchers and the community they aim to serve.
The RRC convenes regularly to:
- Review Research Proposals: Researchers are invited to present their study designs, research goals, and anticipated benefits to the RRC. This provides a platform for community members to understand and evaluate proposed research.
- Provide Community Perspective: The RRC members bring invaluable community perspectives to the forefront of research design and implementation. They consider cultural nuances, issues of equality, and the appropriateness of language used in research materials, ensuring studies are culturally sensitive and respectful.
- Facilitate Researcher-Community Connection: A key objective of the RRC is to directly connect community members with researchers. The RRC actively assists and strengthens researchers’ efforts to effectively recruit research participants from local communities, building trust and participation.
Researchers seeking community involvement through the USF CARE program follow a defined process to engage with the RRC. They submit detailed information about their proposed research for the RRC to initially review. Following this initial assessment, researchers are invited to present their research proposals in person and answer questions directly from the RRC members. To ensure the RRC’s effectiveness, members receive guidelines and training focused on assisting researchers in enhancing the enrollment of diverse participants in their research programs. The current RRC comprises a diverse group of community members, leaders from non-profit organizations, and national public health experts. Their collective expertise helps assess the merit and community relevance of research before the USF CARE program promotes studies to its minority community partners. The RRC also provides valuable insights to the Advisory Board, informing best practices for researchers engaging with communities.
Community Network: Expanding Outreach and Awareness
The USF CARE program thrives on a robust Community Network. This network is a vital assembly of faith-based and community-based organizations, alongside dedicated “community ambassadors.” These ambassadors are trusted individuals within their communities who are passionate about health and research. The Community Network is instrumental in outreach and dissemination efforts.
The network’s key functions include:
- Raising Awareness about Research Value: The network actively works to educate communities about the inherent value and benefits of participating in research. This helps to dispel myths and build understanding of how research contributes to improved health outcomes.
- Disseminating Research Information: The Community Network is crucial for effectively disseminating information about ongoing research studies and clinical trials that are actively seeking participants, particularly from minority communities. They utilize trusted channels and community networks to reach target populations.
- Guiding Barrier Mitigation: The network plays a vital role in informing the USF CARE Advisory Board about the specific barriers that communities face in participating in research. This feedback loop is essential for developing targeted strategies to overcome these barriers and enhance inclusivity in research.
Researcher Network: Fostering Collaboration and Program Advocacy
Complementing the Community Network is the USF CARE Researcher Network. This network is composed of a diverse group of clinical and basic science researchers, division chiefs, clinical faculty members, and key research administrators from the University of South Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center, and the James A Haley VA Hospital. This network is crucial for fostering collaboration within the research community and promoting the USF CARE program.
The Researcher Network actively participates in:
- Community Matchmaking Events: Network members engage in community matchmaking events, directly interacting with community members. This provides a platform for researchers to explain the research process in accessible terms and highlight the direct benefits of research participation for community health.
- Program Promotion Among Research Colleagues: The Researcher Network acts as advocates for the USF CARE program within their professional circles. They actively promote the program’s benefits and encourage their research colleagues to engage with and utilize the CARE program’s resources and community engagement framework.
Community Engagement: Building Bridges Through Partnerships
At the heart of the USF CARE program is active Community Engagement. This is achieved through strategic partnerships with national programs, such as 50 Hoops. These partnerships are designed to create dynamic community advocacy matchmaking events.
These events serve as vital forums where:
- Community Members, Researchers, and Clinicians Connect: The events bring together diverse stakeholders – community members, researchers, clinicians, and local leaders – to foster direct dialogue and collaboration.
- Health Equity Topics are Discussed: These forums provide a platform to openly discuss critical health equity topics, addressing disparities and challenges faced by underserved communities.
- Ideas and Solutions are Exchanged: Participants collaboratively exchange ideas and work towards developing community-driven solutions to address health equity challenges.
Through these interconnected components, the USF CARE program creates a powerful and sustainable framework for achieving health equity through genuine community engagement, ensuring that research and healthcare truly serve the needs of all communities.
