African American Voices in Research: The First Step
Katherine McKenzie, Ph.D.
Research Dissemination and
Outreach
Community based participatory research is challenging on many levels, but the first step may be one of the hardest. Potential partners by definition come from different corners of the breast cancer field and could be chipping away at similar questions without being aware of the other’s efforts. So, the first step is to bring people excited by the same idea together to bring their different strengths to bear on an issue and end up with a way to approach it that neither could come up with on their own. To support this process the CBCRP developed the Joining Forces Conferences Awards in which applicants can host meetings that bring together breast cancer stakeholders that wouldn’t normally cross paths.
On October 4, 2008, the CBCRP was able to fund a conference that saw this philosophy put into action. Given the higher mortality and lower survival outcomes for African Americans, a coalition including the Center of Community Alliance for Research and Education at the City of Hope Medical Center and the African American advocacy group Sisters of Color, Essence & Life is working to increase the presence of the African American community in breast cancer research. To this end, the CBCRP funded Kimlin Ashing-Giwa, Ph.D., to host a conference that embodies the goal of the Joining Forces Conference Award. The conference, Increasing the Voice of African Americans in Research: A Dialogue between Advocates and Researchers, brought together the African American advocacy community and scientists with a common interest in addressing breast cancer needs of African Americans in Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties.
The information provided at the conference was essential to finding a common starting place for disparate groups. It included talks from researchers and health care providers about the status of breast cancer in the African American community, the environmental impacts on breast cancer, and the status of prevention research, and presentations from community advocates about the different ways in which their groups are providing support for African American health. Both groups outlined the mechanics of the community based participatory research, identifying the benefits and the challenges.
The conference included an intensive networking exercise in which researchers rotated through tables of community advocates to brainstorm about research ideas that would be critical and interesting to both partners. Ideas ranged from new approaches to providing health care to exploring new theories for the causes of breast cancer in African Americans.
Although this was a one-day conference, it was seen by all of the participants as the first step rather than the last. CCARE-COH has committed to supplement the conference with facilitated meetings between researchers and advocate organizations to nurture the project-idea development and facilitate the submission of research proposals.
In the years to come when we look back on the outcomes from this Joining Forces Conference award, we expect to find that while the first step may indeed be the hardest, it is well worth taking.
