Participant Observation: Enhancing the Impact Measurement in Community Based Participatory Research

Participant observation parallels the principles of community based participatory research (CBPR), recognizing that each community should be understood in its own context. Using fieldnotes from the Métis Settlements Life Skills Journey (MSLSJ) program, the authors explore the benefits and challenges of using participant observation in CBPR program evaluation. Participant observation was incorporated in 2014 and 2015 as researchers sought a complementary perspective and context to determine the impact of the program. The authors explore relationships with a large number of stakeholders (children, facilitators, community members, and project staff) and discuss ensuring the participant observer’s perspective is not privileged above others

“We Know We Are Doing Something Good, But What Is It?”: The Challenge of Negotiating Between Service Delivery and Research in a CBPR Project

Engaging communities throughout the research process and responding to community priorities results in constant negotiation between service and research. Community-based participatory research has well established principles intended to guide both the process and goals of research with community. The authors contribute to the body of literature that speaks to the challenge of achieving CBPR ideals amidst the complexity of community realities. When university-based research is aligned with community-based service delivery, at least three sets of expectations must be balanced - those of the community, the university, and the funding agency. The complexity of achieving balance between the ideal and the reality of CBPR, and balance between service delivery and research, were explored using a cyclical process of debriefs throughout the delivery of a youth life skills program with Métis Settlements in Alberta. The value of the process and lessons learned are presented

Needs and readiness assessments: Tools for promoting community-university engagement with Aboriginal communities

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an important means of connecting the perspectives of community members with critical social issues, such as health and wellness. As beneficial as CBPR can be, effective engagement with community members remains a difficult goal to achieve. In this article, we draw on the international literature around needs and readiness assessments to explore their potential for establishing solid foundations for engaged research. We examine the stages and dimensions identified in the literature, and use these as a framework for a needs and readiness assessment project undertaken with a Métis Settlement community in Alberta, Canada. We share how the needs and readiness assessments helped to foster the emergence of community priorities, informing the next steps in research design, program content and evaluation methods, and heightening community-university engagement. It is our hope that our example of engagement, which focuses on the role of needs and readiness assessments in strengthening community-university partnerships, will better inform engagement approaches so that they become relevant, culturally appropriate and community specific. Keywords: Métis, Aboriginal, community-based participatory research, needs assessment, readiness assessment, community-university partnershi

Beyond Collaboration: Principles and Indicators of Authentic Relationship Development in CBPR

Authentic relationships, crafted through an ongoing process of engagement that results in shared priorities, are essential to working with, versus for, in or on community. Using a comparative analysis of a CBPR case study with two rural Métis communities, authors present shifts in individual attitudes and behaviors that represent principles for authentic relationship development. Reciprocal capacity building, relational accountability, and honoring cultural and personal boundaries are principles for authentic relationships that may be generalized across contexts to inform CBPR. Based on a process of collaborative inquiry, the authors propose two indicators of authentic relationships, including adaptability, as shown in decision-making, and shared values, reflected and achieved through inclusive reflexive practices. Using quantitative and qualitative methods to explore authentic relationship development made apparent the absence of authentic relationships in one case study. In conclusion, authors present the discussion and ultimate decision to step back from program delivery when authentic relationships are lacking

Life Skills Journey: Measuring the impact of a resilience-based intervention for Métis children in Alberta

Métis peoples are descendants of unions between French or Scottish fur traders and First Nations women in Canada. Alberta is the only province in Canada with land-based Métis who live in self-governing communities known as Métis Settlements. University of Alberta’s Faculty of Extension and four Métis Settlements partnered in a community based participatory research project aimed at increasing children’s resilience through inner strength and support from peers and mentors. While working with community members, the learning needs of children were identified, prioritised, and included in a summer day-camp program for children (7 – 14 years). Pre- and post-program surveys with children used an adaption of the Youth Resiliency: Assessing Developmental Strengths Questionnaire. Results are presented using descriptive statistics and were tested for significance using the non-parametric Wilcoxon rank sum test. Positive change occurred in several areas of internal strength, including self-esteem, drug resistance, and planning and decision making. Risk factors also saw positive change, as did the area of external family support. Significant areas of positive change are encouraging given that they demonstrate success in major goals of the summer camp program. Significant areas of negative change require further analysis in order to understand the complexity of Métis youth resiliency

A Community-University Approach to Substance Abuse Prevention

In response to high rates of substance abuse in their communities, members of the Maskwacis four Nations invited university researchers to partner in culturally adapting, implementing, and evaluating an evidence-based substance abuse and violence prevention program, the Life Skills Training program (Botvin & Griffin, 2014). This project used a community-based participatory research (Israel, Schulz, Parker, & Becker, 1998; Minkler & Wallerstein, 2003) approach, and was carried out by university and First Nation community partners. To evaluate the impact of the adapted program, students completed pre and post questionnaires, and community members participated in focus groups. The adapted Maskwacis Life Skills Training program was delivered in schools for three years. Students’ knowledge increased significantly during program delivery, and strong support was documented from community members. This project demonstrates the impact that can be facilitated by culturally adapting and delivering a prevention program, and by forming a community-university partnership

Preliminary Efforts Directed Toward the Detection of Craving of Illicit Substances: The iHeal Project

Many behavioral interventions, whether for the management of chronic pain, overeating, medication adherence, or substance abuse, are ineffective outside of the clinic or office environments in which they are taught. This lack of utility has spawned interest in enabling technologies that are capable of detecting changes in affective state that potentially herald a transition to risky behaviors. We have therefore undertaken the preliminary development of “iHeal”, an innovative constellation of technologies that incorporates artificial intelligence, continuous biophysical monitoring, wireless connectivity, and smartphone computation. In its fully realized form, iHeal can detect developing drug cravings; as a multimedia device, it can also intervene as the cravings develop to prevent drug use. This manuscript describes preliminary data related to the iHeal Project and our experience with its use.United States. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009National Institutes of Health (U.S.

A statistical gap-filling method to interpolate global monthly surface ocean carbon dioxide data

We have developed a statistical gap-filling method adapted to the specific coverage and prop-erties of observed fugacity of surface ocean CO2(fCO2). We have used this method to interpolate the Sur-face Ocean CO2Atlas (SOCAT) v2 database on a 2.5832.58 global grid (south of 708N) for 1985–2011 atmonthly resolution. The method combines a spatial interpolation based on a ‘‘radius of influence’’ to deter-mine nearby similar fCO2values with temporal harmonic and cubic spline curve-fitting, and also fits long-term trends and seasonal cycles. Interannual variability is established using deviations of observations fromthe fitted trends and seasonal cycles. An uncertainty is computed for all interpolated values based on thespatial and temporal range of the interpolation. Tests of the method using model data show that it performsas well as or better than previous regional interpolation methods, but in addition it provides a near-globaland interannual coverage