REU Site: Community-Engaged Training for Advancing Health Equity

该项目由社会，行为和经济科学局（SBE）的本科生研究经验（REU）网站计划资助。除了整合研究和教育之外，它还具有科学和社会效益。这个REU项目将向本科生介绍健康公平领域的研究方法，优先考虑社区成员的参与。这包括社区组织或社区成员本身可以指导研究重点的方法。这与其他研究问题和方法仅由研究者决定的方法形成对比。这些方法有助于社区成员参与，这对于解决健康公平问题尤为重要。这是因为健康公平主题往往侧重于经历过排斥和歧视的人群，他们可能不信任研究人员或他们所代表的机构。它还确保社区成员在确定哪些卫生领域最需要时有发言权。我们将通过让学生参与几个正在进行或最近完成的使用这些方法的研究项目之一来向他们介绍这些方法。学生将完成对他们选择的项目的分析，并参与其他研究活动，以帮助他们学习参与和与社区成员合作的常用方法。这项工作将由领导原始项目的导师监督。本科生参与者还将参加研讨会，向他们介绍各种关键概念的研究，从事社区成员。其他讲习班将侧重于专业发展。在这些体验结束时，本科生参与者将向主办大学的研究人员展示他们的发现。我们对这种研究的方法有助于确保本科生接受培训的最佳方法进行健康公平研究的方式走向公平的结果。由于该项目的重点，我们还预计，我们的参与者将比整个领域更加多样化。因此，我们有可能帮助推动更多样化的劳动力的职业生涯，以更好地满足健康公平研究的需求。健康研究的劳动力仍然远不如他们所服务的社区多样化。充分的代表性对于促进这些领域的卫生公平至关重要。优先考虑健康公平和利用社区参与的方法，尊重正在研究的人口提供了最好的机会，让学生谁拥有这些相同的背景。这种方法清楚地表明，他们的观点是有价值的，是成功推进这项研究的核心。今年夏天，REU将促进对健康公平和健康差异相关研究的先进方法的兴趣。教师通过连续的每周教学法教授科学，并在为期10周的暑期课程中进行实践研究。该REU进一步促进了实验室环境中的队列经验，将REU学生与项目经理，博士后研究人员，研究生和本科生研究助理整合，以实现最佳学习和参与。该项目的目标是通过培训参与者采用社区参与的健康公平研究方法来增加健康科学职业的代表性。健康公平对整体公共卫生至关重要，随后成为NSF，NIH，SAMSHA等跨领域倡议的核心组成部分。在健康公平这个REU的继续是为学生提供健康公平的多样化，应用研究机会的关键。它集中了有效但未充分利用的方法，如基于社区的前瞻性研究（CBPR）和文化敏感的范式。这种独特的REU经验将继续：1）产生对健康科学的兴趣，特别是在健康公平; 2）促进技能发展，在研究生教育中取得成功; 3）创建一个研究支持网络，以支持学生; 4）提供职业道路和研究生教育方面的指导，和5）为本科生提供展示和发表研究成果的经验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得支持通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). It has both scientific and societal benefits in addition to integrating research and education. This REU project will introduce undergraduates to research methods in health equity fields that prioritize the involvement of community members. This includes approaches where community organizations or community members themselves may guide the focus of the research. This is in contrast to other methods where the research questions and methods are only determined by the researcher. These kinds of methods help to engage community members, which is especially important for addressing health equity topics. This is because health equity topics often focus on populations who have experienced exclusion and discrimination and may distrust researchers or the institutions they represent. It also ensures that the community members have a voice in determining what areas of health are of greatest need. We will introduce students to these methods by having them work on one of several ongoing or recently completed research projects that uses these kinds of methods. Students will complete analyses on the project of their choosing and be involved in other research activities to help them learn common methods for engaging and collaborating with community members. This work will be overseen by a mentor who led the original project. Undergraduate participants will also attend workshops that introduce them to a variety of key concepts for research that engages community members. Additional workshops will focus on professional development. At the end of these experiences, undergraduate participants will present their findings to researchers at the host university. Our approach to this kind of research helps ensure that undergraduates receive training on the best available methods for doing health equity research in a way that moves toward equity in outcomes. Because of the focus of the project, we also anticipate that our participants will be more diverse than the field as a whole. We therefore are likely to help advance the careers of a more diverse workforce to better address health equity research needs.The health research workforce remains far less diverse than the communities they serve. Adequate representation is vital to advancing health equity within these fields. Prioritizing health equity and utilizing community-engaged approaches that respect the populations being studied provides the best opportunity for engaging the students who share these same backgrounds. Such approaches clearly communicate that their perspectives are valued and central to successful advancing this research. This summer REU will promote interest in advanced methodological approaches for health equity and health disparities related research. Faculty teach science through sequenced, weekly didactics leading to and operating alongside hands-on research across a 10-week summer program. This REU further facilitates cohort experiences in a laboratory setting, integrating REU students with project managers, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate research assistants for optimal learning and engagement. The goal of the project is to increase representation in health science careers by training participants in community-engaged methodological approaches to health equity research. Health equity is critical to overall public health and subsequently a central component of crosscutting initiatives within NSF, NIH, SAMSHA, and others. The continuation of this REU in health equity is critical for providing students diverse, applied research opportunities in health equity. It centers effective, yet underutilized methods like Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and culturally sensitive paradigms. This unique REU experience will continue to: 1) generate interest in health sciences, especially in health equity; 2) promote skill development for success in graduate education; 3) create a research support network to support students; 4) provide mentoring on career paths and graduate education, and 5) provide undergraduate students experience in presenting and publishing research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.