Environmental stressors and lack of access to health education have exacerbated the poor health conditions of minority and underserved populations around the United States, particularly in Detroit, Michigan. Wayne State University's Center for Urban Responses to Environment Stressors (CURES) intentionally worked with community stakeholders by developing a direct partnership between academia and the affected population to alleviate the health challenges and educate the Detroit community on these issues. CURES implemented community-based management principles such as participatory and community-engaged research to improve knowledge transfer between researchers, health advocates, and community members to create more effective educational tools. These educational tools were intended to empower the public to address these unjust conditions. The authors used this case study to illustrate the partnership process between academic institutions and community members and how it helped stakeholder engagement with environmental health science.
This case study took place between 2015 and 2019. Involved in the partnership were the CURES community engagement (CE) team, which included academic researchers and professors, and a 25-member Community Advisory Board (CAB), which included Detroit residents and representatives from community-based advocacy groups. At the beginning of the process, 30-minute phone calls were held with each CAB member to develop meaningful and trustful relationships in which CURES and CAB members and establish common goals. The next few years were filled with monthly meetings between CURES and CAB. These meetings provided insight into communication best practices based on the feedback from the community stakeholders on the CAB. These meetings led to co-formation of educational tools like videos, accompanying fact sheets, and community-based environmental health chats (EHCs) in which CURES administered to the public, with the assistance of other community-based organizations. These health chats, which had either two or three 15-minute presentations, included topics on issues such as food access, lead exposures, urban water systems, and indoor air quality. The authors deployed questionnaires after each chat and throughout the process to elicit feedback to understand the usefulness of the educational tools and chats, and implemented the feedback that was provided. For example, the authors shared some questionnaires revealed a chat may have been too jargon-y or difficult to understand, so the CURES team mitigated those issues by revising the material. In total, 763 residents were reached through the EHCs. Attendees who wanted the environmental information shared in their networks were followed up with by the CE team, and smaller, similar chats were developed. Through this snowball method of further disseminating information, an additional just over 2,200 participants were reached.
The authors concluded that this collaborative process successfully worked with the community which the educational tools were trying to serve. There was an increased level of community engagement from the public due to co-developing accessible and appropriate educational tools and chat topics that residents and other members of the public felt comfortable participating in. Overall, the researchers found that the systematic process of co-developing information, asking for participant feedback consistently, and implementing feedback, led to an effective partnership.
There were limitations in this study and the results are not generalizable. Detroit has specific challenges and health concerns compared with other areas in the United States and the world. In recent years, Michigan has received media attention regarding health impacts on underserved populations, which may have impacted the community's receptiveness to the educational tools and chats. The article did not include an in-depth discussion about the challenges faced during the partnership process and whether there was turnover in the CAB or at CURES over the five-year initiative, which would have provided more detailed insight for practitioners.
The researchers suggested partnering with advocates and community members, who experience environmental health impacts, helped underline the relevance and reach of these materials. Further, the process focused on the co-development of materials and regular evaluations and feedback implementation, which was effective. This model could be replicated for other academic institutions and local communities impacted by negative environmental health conditions.
The Bottom Line
Wayne State University's Center for Urban Responses to Environment Stressors (CURES) worked with community stakeholders by developing a direct partnership between academia and the affected population in an effort to alleviate health challenges faced by minority and underserved populations, educate the Detroit community on these issues, and empower the public to address these unjust conditions. The authors used this case study to illustrate the partnership process between academic institutions and community members and how it helped stakeholder engagement with environmental health science. The process included relationship-building with the advisory board members and residents, co-developing educational tools, sending regular evaluations after public programming, and implementing community feedback in these educational tools and chats. The researchers suggested partnering with advocates and community members that experience environmental health impacts helped underline the relevance and reach of these materials. This model could be replicated for other academic institutions and local communities impacted by negative environmental health conditions.
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