Opportunities and challenges associated with engaging immigrant women in participatory action research

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Abstract

With increasing recognition of the importance of knowledge exchange between researchers and research stakeholders, community member involvement remains poorly accessed. A promising community-based research methodology for knowledge exchange is participatory action research (PAR). This review examines opportunities and challenges associated with using PAR to examine issues related to community health, specifically that of immigrant women. The literature search included published and grey literature relevant to immigrant women and PAR. PAR actively engages community members of the study population throughout the research process. The involvement of immigrant women in research that explores issues pertinent to their health is essential to conducting relevant research to subsequently inform policies and programs. There are numerous advantages to using a PAR approach, including enhanced research relevance and utilization; notwithstanding, there are challenges to overcome in order to engage community based immigrant women in research. Ultimately, policies that have contextual grounding through PAR have better likelihood of effectively addressing priority issues for immigrant women.

Citation

Relevant Evidence Summaries

The evidence was reviewed and included in the following summaries: 

How can participatory research methods be used to improve research with refugees?

Participatory research methods have been successfully implemented with multiple refugee communities and have covered various topics. General principles of participatory research include viewing community members as co-researchers, creating advisory boards, involving community members in all steps of the research project, and highlighting community expertise on their own lived experiences Community empowerment and skill building should […]

About this study

AGE: Adults

DIRECTION OF EVIDENCE: Positive impact

FULL TEXT AVAILABILITY: Paid

GENDER: Female

HOST COUNTRY: United States

HOST COUNTRY INCOME: High

INTERVENTION DURATION: Various

INTERVENTION: PAR

OUTCOME AREA: N/A

POPULATION: Immigrants

REGION OF ORIGIN OF PARTICIPANT(S): Multiple Regions

STRENGTH OF EVIDENCE: Strong

TYPE OF STUDY: Systematic review

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2013

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