Balancing Empiricism and Local Cultural Knowledge in the Design of Prevention Research

• Published in: Journal of urban health Vol. 82; no. 2_suppl_3; pp. iii44 - iii55
• Main Author: Fisher, P. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Springer Nature B.V 01.06.2005; Springer-Verlag
• Subjects: Advisory Committees - organization & administration; Alaska; American Indians; Community Health Planning - organization & administration; Community Involvement; Community Participation; Community Research; Cooperative Behavior; Culture; Effective Community Collaborations; Empirical Research; Health Care Services; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Research; Health Services Research - methods; Health Services, Indigenous - organization & administration; Humans; Indians, North American - ethnology; Indigenous Populations; Inuits - ethnology; Models, Organizational; Prevention; Primary Prevention - methods; Primary Prevention - organization & administration; Research Design; Social conditions
• ISSN: 1099-3460; 1468-2869
• DOI: 10.1093/jurban/jti063

Prevention research aims to address health and social problems via systematic strategies for affecting and documenting change. To produce meaningful and lasting results at the level of the community, prevention research frequently requires investigators to reevaluate the boundaries that have traditionally separated them from the subjects of their investigations. New tools and techniques are required to facilitate collaboration between researchers and communities while maintaining scientific rigor. This article describes the tribal participatory research approach, which was developed to facilitate culturally centered prevention research in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. This approach is discussed within the broader context of community-based participatory research, an increasingly prevalent paradigm in the prevention field. Strengths and limitations of the approach used in the study are presented.