'I want to be screened just like the pirates!': The Power of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Theatre to Aid Research Participation

Research participation is an important component of advancing whole health and eliminating health disparities, especially in communities facing environmental justice (EJ) issues. Though federally mandated, recruitment of racial and ethnic minorities can be a daunting task and recruitment of children an even greater challenge. A range of typical recruitment strategies (printed materials, word of mouth, broadcast etc.) for those of ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds have exhibited only limited to modest success, depending on the community being served and the type of engagement. To date, there has been only limited assessment of the use of community-based participatory research (CBPR) theatre as a culturally relevant recruitment strategy. The ENRRICH Railyard Study used CBPR theatre to engage an underserved EJ community, and to assess the health impact of residential proximity to a major freight railyard. The railyard community is comprised of primarily low-income Hispanic families. To promote participation, a CBPR theatre play – a partnership between a community- based organisation (CBO) and a university institution – was produced, from design to production, at two elementary schools. Following the play, parental consents and surveys were sent home. The response was immediate and one of the largest to date – 74 percent of children participated in the study. The CBPR theatre, university and CBO partnership provided an opportunity to engage under-served minority children and their parents, thus encouraging participation and facilitating educationon respiratory health and the environment. This article includes experiences and lessons learned from using CBPR theatre to encourage study participation, critical for promoting sustainable change in an EJ community

Human-Centered Design Components in Spiral Model to Improve Mobility of Older Adults

As humans grow older, their cognitive needs change more frequently due to distal and proximal life events. Designers and developers need to come up with better designs that integrate older users’ needs in a short period of time with more interaction with the users. Therefore, the positioning of human end users in the center of the design itself is not the key to the success of design artifacts while designing applications for older adults to use a smartphone as a promising tool for journey planner while using public transportation. This study analyzed the use of human-centered design (HCD) components, the spiral model, and the design for failure (DfF) approach to improve the interactions between older users and designers/developers in gathering usability needs in the concept stage and during the development of the app with short iterative cycles. To illustrate the importance of the applied approach, a case study with particular focus on older adults is presented.The results presented in this study are based on “Assistant” project funded by AAL JP, co-funded by the European Union. The authors would like to thank Dr. Stefan Carmien, my colleague in Assistant, for mentoring and for reading and making comments in the earlier versions of this chapter; participating research institutes; funding agencies; and companies from Finland, Spain, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom for their active support throughout the project