Session: Conducting Community Engaged Research to Address Youth Mental Health, Wellbeing, Stigma and HIV Prevention: Evidence from Burundi, Ecuador, and United States (Society for Social Work and Research 29th Annual Conference)

Community-engaged research entails conducting research that adheres to scientific standards and actively involves the benefits of communities served. This means forging genuine partnerships with community stakeholders, recognizing their expertise, and co-creating interventions that address tangible needs and aspirations. By fostering transformative partnerships, researchers can ensure that research aligns with the lived experiences of our communities. This symposium presents three studies that demonstrate collaborations between researchers and communities to address youth mental health in Burundi, youth mental health and domestic violence in the Galapagos, and youth HIV prevention and stigma in North Carolina.

Methods

Across the three studies, mixed methods were used. This included focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and surveys using cutting-edge technology to understand the lived experiences of youth. Collaborative processes were engaged to ensure the collective wisdom of community partners informed the development of interventions so that the interventions were locally driven, sustainable, and relevant to the local communities.

Results

All the findings across the studies reinforce the importance of community-engaged research. The results of the Stigma reduction and HIV prevention study in North Carolina indicate that youth and community- and clinic-based providers have shared preferences for intervention design, which consequently affect the intervention's uptake and acceptability. In Burundi, community-based organizations and girls and young women in the study identified several barriers to girls' access to mental health issues, including the lack of availability of mental health services, stigma attached to seeking services, and lack of confidentiality when services are sought. In addition, school-based mental health services were the preferred mode of service delivery because they provide stability and safety for the girls who have been traumatized by conflict. Collaboration with CBOs to plan, design, and implement mental health services to mitigate trauma was preferred. In the Galapagos, a study to test a unique community-driven curriculum using implementation mapping showcases high adoption probabilities by community partners. Across outcome and performance indicators, over 90% of the participants were very satisfied with the content and implementation strategies of the training.

Conclusion and Implications

Research at the nexus of community engagement and rigorous methodologies provides an opportunity for meaningful partnerships that yield collective responsibility for both researchers and partners to advance knowledge and uplift the voices of marginalized populations we serve. Intentional engagement of community stakeholders recognizes their expertise and will enhance the credibility and reliability of findings, ultimately contributing to evidence.