Establishing the foundation: Culturally congruent mentoring for research scholars and faculty from underrepresented populations.

Abstract

here are scores of university faculty and scholars from diverse backgrounds who have long researched, preached about, and presented statistics and reports to illustrate the direct and indirect effects of generations of policies and practices that have resulted in disparities in health and mental health in our country (

Development of a Black Caucus within the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN): Representing the Perspectives of Black Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM)

“…The development of community-centered relationships with key community stakeholders provided researchers with an opportunity to strengthen their knowledge-base of Black MSM communities in connection to research. This type of cultural connection allows researchers to work in collaboration with communities who have experienced multiple forms of exclusion and marginalization when conducting culturally-grounded community research, as well as addressing the needs of Black MSM based on critical research questions [40,58].…”

“…Having researchers who are aware of the nuances of these socio-cultural frameworks within Black MSM communities became important in developing a protocol that was inclusive of such a diverse population [59][60][61]. Moreover, when conducting research on Black communities, Wyatt et al [40] indicated that the institutional context of exclusion for Black researchers needs to be considered when integrating culturally-congruent research approaches (e.g., historical, socio-cultural/-structural and personal barriers related to disenfranchisement from the research process). A core component of this work involves the inclusion of researchers that are representative of Black MSM communities and maintain values that are congruent with Black MSM communities [40].…”

“…Along with incorporating the qualitative component, the HPTN Black Caucus was instrumental in helping to shape the recruitment and retention methods of HPTN 061. Research suggests that innovative, culturally-relevant methods are more successful than traditional methods for recruiting and retaining members of communities of color in research studies [40,55]. In terms of significance, respondents suggested that including Black MSM voices in the design of the study was of paramount importance.…”

“…Provider bias, past negative experiences with the healthcare system, perceived racist ideologies, and HIV-related conspiracy theories serve as other factors that may impede Black MSM from participating in clinical research studies [12,18,25,28,[36][37][38]. Research has also documented the inadequate incorporation of Black researchers in conducting prevention and clinical studies focused on Black communities [39][40][41]. Moreover, for Black MSM who are willing to participate in clinical research studies, barriers to optimal recruitment and retention are common (e.g., inadequate transportation services, insufficient participant incentives, interferences with work commitments, and insufficient capacity to provide culturally-responsive services on the part of study staff can impede recruitment and retention efforts) [37,42,43].…”

“…Moreover, for Black MSM who are willing to participate in clinical research studies, barriers to optimal recruitment and retention are common (e.g., inadequate transportation services, insufficient participant incentives, interferences with work commitments, and insufficient capacity to provide culturally-responsive services on the part of study staff can impede recruitment and retention efforts) [37,42,43]. Further, research has indicated that the development of culturally congruent partnerships from the formative phases of the research process often serve as one of the most important factors for the successful recruitment of participants [40]. The inclusion of people of color as key research staff, community leaders, and community members can also help strengthen culturally-relevant research that can be incorporated and sustained in the community [37].…”