Two trainings to prepare Extension educators for research and grant partnerships were designed, implemented, and evaluated. These trainings further national goals to address health disparities, gain partnerships in the health care sector, and support health extension. The workshop Are You Research Ready? prepares Extension educators to participate in community-based human health research. Evaluations indicated that attendees gained a self-assessment of research readiness and felt more confident to position themselves for grants. Program evaluations also showed that educators needed additional training on how to create partnerships. A second workshop, Are You Partnership Ready?, addresses this need, increasing participants\u27 confidence and skills for engaging in research projects and building partnerships

Carter, Erin

Eschbach, Cheryl

Newkirk, Cathy

Tiret, Holly

English

Clemson University: TigerPrints

Journal of Extension Volume 57 Number 6 Article 12 February 2021 Preparing Extension Educators for Community-Based Research and Grant Partnerships Cheryl Eschbach Michigan State University Holly Tiret Michigan State University Erin Carter Michigan State University Cathy Newkirk Michigan State University This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Eschbach, C., Tiret, H., Carter, E., & Newkirk, C. (2021). Preparing Extension Educators for Community-Based Research and Grant Partnerships. Journal of Extension, 57(6). Retrieved from https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/joe/vol57/iss6/12 This Ideas at Work is brought to you for free and open access by TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Extension by an authorized editor of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact kokeefe@clemson.edu. December 2019Volume 57Number 6Article # 6IAW1Ideas at WorkPreparing Extension Educators for Community-Based Researchand Grant PartnershipsAbstractTwo trainings to prepare Extension educators for research and grant partnerships were designed, implemented,and evaluated. These trainings further national goals to address health disparities, gain partnerships in thehealth care sector, and support health extension. The workshop Are You Research Ready? prepares Extensioneducators to participate in community-based human health research. Evaluations indicated that attendees gaineda self-assessment of research readiness and felt more confident to position themselves for grants. Programevaluations also showed that educators needed additional training on how to create partnerships. A secondworkshop, Are You Partnership Ready?, addresses this need, increasing participants' confidence and skills forengaging in research projects and building partnerships.Keywords: community-based research, evaluation, health, professional development, training   IntroductionCooperative Extension's National Framework for Health and Wellness (Braun et al., 2014; Rodgers & Braun,2015) directs Extension systems to focus on building partnerships to address health and wellness in the UnitedStates. With demographic pressures such as an aging population (Colby & Ortman, 2017) and policy changesin the health care sector affecting national spending (Cuckler et al., 2018), there is substantiated need forcommunity-based research to address health disparities. Our team of Michigan State University Extensionhealth education professionals developed a model of health extension to guide implementation of strategiesfor improving connections between non-Extension human health researchers and Extension health programpersonnel (Dwyer et al., 2017). One of the strategies associated with our model of health extension is tocreate professional development endeavors that build organizational capacity and prepare Extension educatorsto participate in research and develop partnerships.Professional Development TrainingsCheryl EschbachHealth and NutritionInstitute DirectorMichigan StateUniversity ExtensionEast Lansing, Michigancheryl@msu.eduHolly TiretExtension EducatorMichigan StateUniversityGrand Rapids,Michigantiret@msu.eduErin CarterDistrict DirectorMichigan StateUniversity ExtensionMarquette, Michiganecarter@msu.eduCathy NewkirkExtension EducatorMichigan StateUniversityFlint, Michigannewkirk@msu.edu@MSUExtensionWe designed, implemented, and evaluated a 5-hr workshop titled Are You Research Ready? This professionaldevelopment offering provides baseline training to prepare Extension educators to participate in community-based human health research with university faculty. Training topics include common terminology intranslational science, steps of the human health research process, responsible conduct of human healthresearch, and strategies for communicating with human health researchers and the public. The workshopincludes activities, research examples, and facilitated discussions related to conducting community-basedhuman health research to encourage scholarship. Experiential activities based on adult learning principles suchas practicing self-examination, sharing with others, building confidence, and acquiring skills and knowledgeare incorporated intentionally throughout the workshop (Franz, 2007; Ota, DiCarlo, Burts, Laird, & Gioe,2006). Table 1 provides examples of training topics and components used in Are You Research Ready?Table 1.Are You Research Ready? Workshop: Sample Training ComponentsTraining component DescriptionFive topics Content presented at the workshop via slides and visuals addressed these topics: (a)types of research (e.g., basic, clinical, community-based participatory); (b) translationaland implementation science terminology (e.g., T1-T4 phases); (c) steps of the researchprocess; (d) aspects of responsible and ethical conduct of research (e.g, risk, consent,privacy, fairness in subject recruitment); and (e) methods of disseminating research.Stepping on the research readinesscontinuumIn this activity, participants were directed to assess their perceptions of their own researchreadiness. Participants assessed and reported on (a) their current research skills, (b) theiruniversity and community connections, and (c) their overall readiness to engage inresearch. Participants placed self-stick dots with their initials on continuum charts on thewall at the start and again at the end of the workshop.Flip chart brainstorm To identify examples of research in Extension, facilitators used three flip charts to recordparticipant comments. Flip chart titles were Educator-Initiated Research, Support ofOthers' Research, and Community-Initiated Research.Dissemination bingo In this interactive activity, participants identified their dissemination skills. Participantsconnected with each other by initialing "bingo sheets" containing squares listingdissemination efforts ranging from community presentations to manuscripts.Videos featuring ExtensionleadershipIn 3-min clips, leaders described the importance of Extension staff involvement inresearch.Group discussions Group discussions focused on community interventions and opportunities for educators tostrengthen their skills as implementation scientists and research dissemination experts.Through written evaluation feedback, the participating educators indicated a need for additional trainingfocused on how they, as facilitators, could foster more meaningful connections between human healthresearchers and the communities they serve. To address this need, our team created a second professionaldevelopment workshop: Are You Partnership Ready? A goal of this workshop is to continue to increaseconfidence and build skills. Educators attending the workshop were encouraged to move forward by discussingtheir research interests with their supervisors and including research in their plans of work.Ideas at Work Preparing Extension Educators for Community Based Research and Grant Partnerships JOE 57(6)©2019 Extension Journal Inc. 1Topics for Are you Partnership Ready? include negotiating roles on grants and funded projects; developingskills in reading funding solicitations; writing components of grant applications, such as scope of work,budgets, and budget justifications; and creating biographical sketches for inclusion as grant personnel.Participant OutcomesBetween May 2015 and September 2016, 42 Extension educators participated in three workshops. When self-assessing their research experience prior to the Are You Research Ready? workshop, 75% of participantsclassified themselves as "beginner," 16% as "intermediate," and 9% as "advanced." Self-assessment isimportant because Extension educators have different levels and types of research experience and theirtraining needs may differ. After the workshop, participants indicated through a postevent survey that theybetter understood the research process from beginning to end and because of the workshop would explorefuture human health research opportunities. Attendees reported gaining a self-awareness of researchreadiness and feeling more confident to position themselves for inclusion in grants. Only one third ofparticipants had been through an institutional review board (IRB) process prior to the workshop. As a result,many attendees planned to pass the required modules to obtain IRB certification following the workshop.As a result of attending Are Your Research Ready?, participants reported increasing knowledge in severalways:75% became aware of Extension community-based research examples,66% better understood types of research and types of funding for research,66% could articulate the role of clinical and translational research,75% were able to list key steps in the research process,58% acknowledged the importance of being IRB-ready, and70% reported overall improvement in readiness to become involved with research.Evaluation results for Are You Partnership Ready? showed that 89% of participants increased their confidenceregarding working with researchers. Ninety-five percent reported that the workshop helped prepare them forconversations with researchers. Additional results from the postevent survey showed that Extensionprofessionals were planning several actions to improve their research and grant partnership readiness:84% reported that they would search for funding supporting existing and/or new educational programmingefforts,79% planned to seek additional training (e.g., university online grants system, IRB) to be ready forresearch with partners,74% indicated that they would explore opportunities for involvement in grant-funded research, and58% planned to market their Extension-related skills needed by researchers (e.g., outreach andIdeas at Work Preparing Extension Educators for Community Based Research and Grant Partnerships JOE 57(6)©2019 Extension Journal Inc. 2dissemination).Conclusion and Implications for ExtensionWe conclude that Extension educators benefit from professional development training focused on research andpartnership readiness. In delivering these trainings, we confirmed that bringing together educators withdifferent backgrounds encourages collaborative efforts for innovative programming (Sondgerath, 2016).Extension educators should be encouraged to move beyond program delivery and work toward becomingchange agents. Professional development opportunities should include expanding confidence for taking part inresearch and improving skills in building community partnerships (Scott, Weeks, & Weeks, 2018).The Are You Research Ready? and Are You Partnership Ready? workshops are apt for adoption by those inother states who want to increase staff competencies in applied research and partnership building. Providingtrainings such as these supports Cooperative Extension's goal of recruiting, onboarding, and retaining qualifiedand competent staff (Angima & Carroll, 2019). Although some information is university-specific, such as theprocedures for obtaining IRB approval, the underlying topics and activities form the basis of a highly effectiveprofessional development method for building organizational capacity that could be adapted by otheruniversities. We encourage other Extension systems to use these workshops as a starting point or templatefor replicating the training and to adapt content for their organizations. An agenda, slides, and activity files forthe training are available upon request. The actions of using the self-assessment approach to gauge readinessand holding facilitated discussions on specific community-based research opportunities help identify futuretraining needs.ReferencesAngima, S., & Carroll, J. B. (2019). Recruitment and onboarding resources for Extension in the West. Journalof Extension, 57(2), Article 2TOT2. Available at: https://www.joe.org/joe/2019april/tt2.phpBraun, B., Bruns, K., Cronk, L., Fox, L. K., Koukel, S., Le Menestrel, S., . . . Warren, T. (2014). CooperativeExtension's National Framework for Health and Wellness. Retrieved fromhttp://www.aplu.org/members/commissions/food-environment-and-renewable-resources/CFERR_Library/national-framework-for-health-and-wellness/fileColby, S. L., & Ortman, J. M. (2017). Projections of the size and composition of the US population: 2014 to2060: Population estimates and projections. Retrieved fromhttp://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/20152/colby_population.pdfCuckler, G. A., Sisko, A. M., Poisal, J. A., Keehan, S. P., Smith, S. D., Madison, A. J., . . . Hardesty, J. C.(2018). National health expenditure projections, 2017–26: Despite uncertainty, fundamentals primarily drivespending growth. Health Affairs, 37(3), 482–492. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1655Dwyer, J., Contreras, D., Eschbach, C., Tiret, H., Newkirk, C., Carter, E., & Cronk, L. (2017). CooperativeExtension as a framework for health extension: The Michigan State University model. Academic Medicine, 92,1416–1420.Franz, N. (2007). Adult education theories: Informing Cooperative Extension's transformation. Journal ofExtension, 45(1), Article 1FEA1. Available at: https://www.joe.org/joe/2007february/a1.phpIdeas at Work Preparing Extension Educators for Community Based Research and Grant Partnerships JOE 57(6)©2019 Extension Journal Inc. 3Ota, C., DiCarlo, C. F., Burts, D. C., Laird, R., & Gioe, C. (2006). Training and the needs of adult learners.Journal of Extension, 44(6), Article 6TOT5. Available at: https://www.joe.org/joe/2006december/tt5.phpRodgers, M., & Braun, B. (2015). Strategic directions for Extension health and wellness programs. Journal ofExtension, 53(3), Article 3TOT1. Available at: https://joe.org/joe/2015june/tt1.phpScott, M., Weeks, W. G., & Weeks, P. P. (2018). Impact of a professional development experience focused onExtension educators as change agents. Journal of Extension, 56(6), Article 6RIB1. Available at:https://joe.org/joe/2018october/rb1.phpSondgerath, T. (2016). Interdisciplinary professional development needs of Cooperative Extension fieldeducators. Journal of Extension, 54(1), Article 1FEA6. Available at:https://www.joe.org/joe/2016february/a6.phpCopyright © by Extension Journal, Inc. ISSN 1077-5315. Articles appearing in the Journal become the propertyof the Journal. Single copies of articles may be reproduced in electronic or print form for use in educational ortraining activities. Inclusion of articles in other publications, electronic sources, or systematic large-scaledistribution may be done only with prior electronic or written permission of the Journal Editorial Office, joe-ed@joe.org.If you have difficulties viewing or printing this page, please contact JOE Technical SupportIdeas at Work Preparing Extension Educators for Community Based Research and Grant Partnerships JOE 57(6)©2019 Extension Journal Inc. 4

Preparing Extension Educators for Community-Based Research and Grant Partnerships

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Preparing Extension Educators for Community-Based Research and Grant Partnerships

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