RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Until recently, psychologist Kalina Michalska had never used community-based participatory research, or CBPR, in her work, but now she can't imagine not using it.
CBPR, which dates to the early 1930s, is an intensive research approach that involves partnerships between researchers and community members throughout the research process, giving communities a voice in how the research proceeds and allowing them to make use of the findings more effectually.
The study led by Michalska, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, is published in the journal Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience and is part of a special issue on equity and diversity in neuroscience research. The study began with a focus on the neural bases of disruptive behavior disorder and conduct problems in Latina youth, based on Michalska's prior work.
Through speaking with families, however, Michalska's team found that the issues under study were more nuanced than behavioral disorders.
"We learned that what girls in our community were instead struggling with was elevated panic, and separation and social anxiety," Michalska said. "We then re-evaluated the aims of our study to prioritize these concerns. An important aspect of community-engaged research is the condition that community members work with researchers as equal parties and shape the research of which they are a part."
A $50,000 pilot grant Michalska and her graduate student Jordan Mullins received in July 2021 from the UCR School of Medicine's Center for Health Disparities Research
