A national community based participatory research (CBPR) team developed a conceptual/logic model of CBPR partnerships to understand the contribution of partnership processes to improved community capacity and health outcomes. With the model primarily developed through academic literature and expert consensus-building, we sought community input to assess face validity and acceptability. Our research team conducted semi-structured focus groups with six partnerships nation-wide. Participants validated and expanded upon existing model constructs and identified new constructs based on “real-world” praxis, resulting in a revised model. Four cross-cutting constructs were identified: trust development, capacity, mutual learning, and power dynamics. By empirically testing the model, we found community face validity and capacity to adapt the model to diverse contexts. We recommend partnerships use and adapt the CBPR model and its constructs, for collective reflection and evaluation, to enhance their partnering practices and achieve their health and research goals.

An inherently action-focused research orientation, community-based participatory research is particularly well suited to dissemination and implementation research. Prominent among the latter are enhanced dissemination and implementation of findings through the authentic engagement of community partners and other stakeholders throughout. In this discussion of community-based participatory research, and the use of the Chinatown Restaurant Worker Study to illustrate its principles in action, the authors have highlighted many of the benefits community-based participatory research can offer to research and its dissemination and implementation. Drawing on this and other community-based participatory research case studies and literature, the chapter also suggests a number of implications that community-based participatory research holds for dissemination and implementation research, and bridging the gap between research and practice.

Liquid bioartificial tissue containing embryonic stem cells constitutes a powerful new approach to restoring injured heart muscle without distorting its geometry and structure.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is increasingly being used to better understand and improve the health of diverse communities. A key strength of this research orientation is its adaptability to community contexts and characteristics. To date, however, few studies explicitly discuss adaptations made to CBPR principles and processes in response to community context and partners' needs. Using data from our CBPR study, the San Francisco Chinatown Restaurant Worker Health and Safety Project, and drawing from literature on immigrant political incorporation, we examine the links between the contexts of the Chinese immigrant worker community, adaptations made by our collaborative, and study outcomes. In particular, we explore the concepts of contexts of reception and participatory starting points, which may be especially relevant for partnerships with immigrant communities whose members have historically had lower rates of civic and political participation in the US. We discuss contextual findings such as worker partner accounts of language barriers, economic and social marginalization, and civic skills and participation, as well as subsequent adaptations made by the partnership. We also describe the relative effectiveness of these adaptations in yielding equitable participation and building partners' capacity. We conclude by sharing lessons learned and their implications for CBPR and partnerships with immigrant communities more broadly.

CBPR holds promise for both studying worker health and safety among immigrant Chinese restaurant workers and developing culturally appropriate research tools. A new observational checklist also has potential for restaurant-level data collection on worker health and safety conditions.