Explain Some Ethical And Scientific Benefits Associated With Local Community Engagement In Research Initiatives

1190 Words5 Pages

1. What are some ethical and scientific benefits associated with local community engagement in research initiatives?
Community engagement in research is often operationalized in the form of partnerships, collaboratives, and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners, and serve as catalysts for changing policies, programs, and practices.

If local community involvement and engagement is sought-after and achieved, a research project will likely have many scientific benefits. A local community-engaged research initiative has the opportunity to enable researchers to conduct research and produce outcomes which may be directly applied to improve human health. Because the research takes place under real-world conditions, the findings are more applicable to practical interventions. The community, if they feel involved, could help with participant recruitment. Additionally, the community members will likely be more supportive of a project if they understand the purpose of the research and how it might affect them. Community involvement also has the potential to improve study design from community input, …show more content…

What might be seen as a community need from the outside might not be what is felt to be needed by the community members. Selecting perceived research topics without knowing if they address felt needs of the community should be avoided at all costs. If a team is unsuccessful at choosing a truly felt need, the project runs the risk of failing to continue post-intervention. All of this is assuming the team additionally considers (pre-research) rigorous site-selection procedures, builds knowledge of the community, establishes connections with relevant local authorities and community leaders, and maintains clear and open forms of communication with the local public, as mentioned by Lavery et al.

More about Explain Some Ethical And Scientific Benefits Associated With Local Community Engagement In Research Initiatives