Community Engagement and Implementation Science: Challenges and Opportunities

Paris Davis, PhD
Total Resource Community Development Organization

Rebecca Johnson, PhD
Freelance Researcher

ABSTRACT:
ISSUE: There continues to be an uphill struggle for inclusion and accessibility to critical decision-making processes relating to health care and effective patient-centered engagement with at risk communities of color. Individuals, families, and communities are often included as an afterthought in pertinent discussions regarding their immediate and future needs.  

DESCRIPTION: CIRCL-Chicago (Community Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease in Chicago 5 UG3 HL154297) is a federally funded research program to improve hypertension (high blood pressure) control in a Chicago South Side community with high levels of the condition. Our goal is to evaluate the impact of engaging the community where they are and improving heart health. South Side churches and clinics bring together community members to plan the hypertension control program and then adapt the program within the community. The implementation component of the study is a program ("bundle") of activities known to reduce the number of people with high blood pressure in clinical settings in Northern California. The key ingredients of the intervention include a high blood pressure registry, clinic feedback on blood pressure control rates, education on guidelines, medical assistant led follow-up, and promotion of single pill combination therapy. 

In our presentation we share some of challenges and opportunities of implementing a community intervention within a scientific research study framework.