Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action

Abstract:

Background: Black women with endometrial cancer (EC) are diagnosed at advanced stages and have markedly high mortality rates compared with women of other races. EC disparities research lacks both qualitative work and engagement of Black women. We sought to describe developing a community-research partnership to examine EC among Black women.

Methods: We apply the Public Health Critical Race (PCHR) praxis to examine how race and racism shaped our partnership development. We used story telling, goal setting, and iterative collaboration tools to build our relationship and research study.

Results: Common racial and gender identities played an important role in establishing partnership. Active management of historical institutional discrimination, co-learning activities, and transparency were critical to successful collaboration and research development.

Conclusions: Using community engagement and race-conscious approaches, we laid the groundwork for addressing a major knowledge gap in racial inequity in EC.