Research Expectations Among African American Church Leaders in the PRAISE! Project: A Randomized Trial Guided by Community-Based Participatory Research

Objectives. This study sought to examine the expectations and satisfaction of pastors and lay leaders regarding a research partnership in a randomized trial guided by community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods

Partnerships in Health Disparities Research and the Roles of Pastors of Black Churches: Potential Conflict, Synergy, and Expectations

The black church is a promising site to engage in health disparities research; however, little is understood about the pastors' perspectives. We used role theory to explore their expectations, potential conflicts, and synergy with research

Trust, benefit, satisfaction, and burden: A randomized controlled trial to reduce cancer risk through African-American churches

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches that actively engage communities in a study are assumed to lead to relevant findings, trusting relationships, and greater satisfaction with the research process

Development of a health sciences library at a historically black college and university (HBCU): laying the foundation for increased minority health and health disparities research*

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Research Expectations Among African American Church Leaders in the PRAISE! Project: A Randomized Trial Guided by Community-Based Participatory Research

Objectives. This study sought to examine the expectations and satisfaction of pastors and lay leaders regarding a research partnership in a randomized trial guided by community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods. Methods. Telephone and self-administered print surveys were administered to 78 pastors and lay leaders. In-depth interviews were conducted with 4 pastors after study completion. Results. The combined survey response rate was 65%. Research expectations included honest and frequent communication, sensitivity to the church environment, interaction as partners, and results provided to the churches. Satisfaction with the research partnership was high, but so was concern about the need for all research teams to establish trust with church partners. Conclusions. Pastors and lay leaders have high expectations regarding university obligations in research partnerships. An intervention study based on CBPR methods was able to meet most of these expectations

The PRAISE! Project: A Church-Based Nutrition Intervention Designed for Cultural Appropriateness, Sustainability, and Diffusion

Cancer prevention research has inadequately reached the African American community despite a higher risk for cancer and many other chronic diseases. Reasons for this failure include historical mistrust of research and medical institutions; lack of culturally relevant interventions; and a failure to design and implement interventions that “ give back” to the community. The Partnership to Reach African Americans to Increase Smart Eating (PRAISE!) project is a National Cancer Institute-funded study that developed and tested a nutrition intervention program in partnership with African American churches. Sixty churches and over 1300 individuals participated in this 5 year randomized controlled trial. In this article, the authors describe the design and implementation of the PRAISE! intervention, building on the strengths of the African American church to create a community-university partnership to enhance cultural relevance of the intervention and foster the potential for long term sustainability and diffusion in the African American community