Three Decades in the Making: What is the Long-term Impact of a Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) Project on Enhancing Community Capacity?
BACKGROUND: Due to constraints such as time and funding, Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) are rarely evaluated for long-term impact on community capacity beyond the designated study period. This gap calls for further investigation on whether CBPR's knowledge and experiences continue to shape community capacity and ongoing efforts to enhance community wellbeing. The aim of this study is to explore the ability of CBPR to contribute to a meaningful and lasting impact on community capacity three decades after the original CBPR project that led to the successful formation of a community health center in a Yucatecan coastal town in rural Mexico.
METHOD: In 1990, an anthropologist, a biologist, a human ecologist, a social worker, a physician, and two dozen community members initiated a partnership called the Ecological, Social and Health Assessment Program in "The Port," a 530-person coastal Yucatecan town of Mayan cultural ancestry. The partnership's primary aim was to apply CBPR as an approach to enhance community capacity through 1) a sociological and health needs assessment and 2) implementation of community-driven solutions. To understand whether the community members continue to apply the CBPR skills learned in today's context, we conducted 24 semi-structured interviews with community members, including the original project's participants, non-participants, and local authorities over the course of 9 months. The transcriptions were analyzed using Dedoose qualitative analysis and themes were conceptualized with a validated CBPR framework for understanding the contribution of partnership processes for enhancing community capacity.
RESULTS: The original CBPR participants successfully applied skills enhancing community capacity to improve community wellbeing over time. Facilitating factors included existing community networks, sustained relationships with academic partners, and empowered community leaders adapting to community needs. Challenging factors included lack of government buy-in and post-CBPR leadership turnovers.
CONCLUSION: A CBPR project can have a long-lasting impact through the participants' ability to capitalize on community capacity, applying CBPR knowledge and skills on subsequent community projects. Despite challenges such as leadership turnovers, this successful CBPR project demonstrated the potential to build momentum and sustain community capacity years or even decades post-completion.
REFLECTIONS: One of the strongest facilitators of success for this CBPR project was obtaining the community health center, which produced practical application to the community members’ lives. This initial success built on the community-engaged partnership and enhanced community capacity through generating community leaders who served as equal and invaluable experts in assessing community needs and developing the community health clinic.
