(National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Research, 2017). CBPR is based on a philosophy that when users of re-
search are involved from the start of the research process, findings that
are practical and relevant to community needs are more likely to result.
Critical principles for CBPR include engaging in collaborative, equitable
partnerships; building on resources and goals present in the community;
creating long-term sustainable partnerships; and using dynamic processes
where ideas flow between researchers and community members. CBPR aims
to combine knowledge from community members and researchers with a
goal for action and social change to improve community health and often
reduce health disparities (National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral
and Social Sciences Research, 2017).
For example, if nurses wanted to improve the health of immigrants in an
urban area using a CBPR model, the nurses would first meet with community
leaders to determine the needs, priorities, strengths, and desired outcomes.
The research team and community members would mutually agree upon the
purpose and methods to be used. By working together, they could create an
intervention that fit with the community’s culture and would be sustainable
when the research was completed. However, CBPR, if done with marginal-
ized or vulnerable populations such as immigrants, may present ethical issues
during the research process that may not have been identified during the
institutional review board review process. Researchers need to be sensitive
to those issues and address them when reporting findings (Campbell-Page
& Shaw-Ridley, 2013).
The goals of health services research are to determine strategies to ef-
fectively organize, manage, finance, and deliver high-quality care. Research
topics include ways to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety
(AHRQ, n.d.). Studies often involve multidisciplinary teams. For example, a
study might be conducted to determine how Internet communications can
be used to connect healthcare providers practicing in rural areas to special-
ists around the world.
A researcher is interested in studying the effect of different medications on the pain of fractures
in children admitted to the emergency department. The researcher wants to compare
intravenous morphine, oral ibuprofen, and oral acetaminophen with codeine. What kind of
design do you think the researcher should use? Why?CRITICAL THINKING EXERCISE 7-2
KEY TERM
health services
research:
Research involving
phenomena, such
as cost, political
factors, and culture,
related to the
delivery of health
care7.4 Specific Uses for Quantitative Designs 187