Community advisory board members’ perspectives on their contributions to a large multistate cluster RCT: a mixed methods study
Date
2023-11-23
Authors
Bosak, Julie
Drainoni, Mari-Lynn
Hamilton, Greer
Battaglia, Tracy
Chassler, Deborah
Martinez, Linda Sprague
Lunze, Karsten
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
Bosak J, Drainoni M-L, Christopher M, et al. Community advisory board members’ perspectives on their contributions to a large multistate cluster RCT: a mixed methods study. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. 2024;8(1):e1. doi:10.1017/cts.2023.673
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Community advisory boards (CABs) are an established approach to ensuring research reflects community priorities. This paper examines two CABs that are part of the HEALing Communities Study which aims to reduce overdose mortality. This analysis aimed to understand CAB members’ expectations, experiences, and perspectives on CAB structure, communication, facilitation, and effectiveness during the first year of an almost fully remote CAB implementation. Current literature exploring these perspectives is limited.
METHODS: We collected qualitative and survey data simultaneously from members (n = 53) of two sites’ CABs in the first 9 months of CAB development. The survey assessed trust, communication, and relations; we also conducted 32 semi-structured interviews. We analyzed the survey results descriptively. The qualitative data were analyzed using a deductive codebook based on the RE-AIM PRISM framework. Themes were drawn from the combined qualitative data and triangulated with survey results to further enrich the findings.
RESULTS: CAB members expressed strong commitment to overall study goals and valued the representation of occupational sectors. The qualitative data described a dissonance between CAB members’ commitment to the mission and unmet expectations for influencing the study within an advisory role. Survey results indicated lower satisfaction with the research teams’ ability to create a mutually beneficial process, clear communication, and sharing of power.
CONCLUSION: Building a CAB on a remote platform, within a study utilizing a community engagement strategy, still presents challenges to fully realizing the potential of a CAB. These findings can inform more effective operationalizing of community-engaged research through enhanced CAB engagement.
Description
License
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Association for Clinical and Translational Science. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. This article has been published under a Read & Publish Transformative Open Access (OA) Agreement with CUP.