Session: The Implementation of Community-Based Participatory Research with Burmese and Bhutanese Refugees: Considering Fidelity and Flexibility (Society for Social Work and Research 21st Annual Conference - Ensure Healthy Development for all Youth)

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been a buzz word in social work research. CBPR promotes a collaborative approach in creating equal partnership between researchers and community members in order to achieve a solution to commonly identified goals. Through shared decision making, researchers and community members create and maintain ongoing research partnerships. In an ideal CBPR project, research agenda is initiated by the community members, while researchers assist them in designing and facilitating the process to resolving community problems. However, no two CBPR look identical in practice, and often take various forms. The level of engagement may span from community-inspired projects led by researchers to “true” CBPR projects led by community and researchers in equal degree.  

This symposium convenes five presentations examining diverse socioeconomic, health, and behavioral health concerns faced by Burmese and Bhutanese refugee communities across the United States. In recent decades, the United States accepted a large number of refugees from Bhutan and Burma. These two refugee groups have resettled with little media attention. Bhutanese and Burmese refugees are very cautious about sharing personal information due to their collective experience of political and ethnic persecution – therefore, CBPR may be the most appropriate approach to establishing trust and addressing various health and socioeconomic concerns with these communities.

The studies in this symposium have applied the core principle of CBPR in promoting active partnership of community members. All studies are unique in its application of CBPR, while ensuring the fidelity of the approach.

Jennifer McClearyreports on the process evaluation of work of a task force to create a culturally appropriate chemical dependency intervention program for the Karen people, an ethnic group from Burma. In-depth interviews with 11 members of the task force were conducted to evaluate their perceptions and participation in the success of the CBPR approach of the task force.

Isok Kimpresents on the survey results of behavioral health among refugees (N=151) from Burma. The CBPR approach was used to actively collaborate with six key Burmese community members in conducting a quantitative survey study.

Diane Mitschke and Youn Kyoung Kim present on resilience and filial responsibility among young refugees (N=22) from Burma. Using a CBPR approach to engage young adult leaders in the Karen and Rohingya communities, members of the refugee community constructed interview questions, conducted interviews themselves, and participated in the analysis process. 

Jessica Lee presents on healthcare service utilization among Bhutanese refugees (N=30). Using grounded theory methods, vulnerability factors of service utilization among refugees were examined.  It highlights the community-engaged aspects of the study in generating research questions, interview guide, and sampling strategy.

Odessa Gonzales Benson presents on mapping of resettlement patterns of Bhutanese refugees in the U.S., conducted through a community-directed data collection process. Comparing community-based population estimates for U.S. cities (N=287) with official data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement and US Census to identify “pull factors” of resettlement destination cities, the community-engaged research enhanced our understanding of migration patterns and appropriate placement -- key aspects in service provision for refugees.