Research Education/Training CoreSpecific Aim 3: a) To expand and enhance the capabilities of academically-based healthresearchers and Native American community members to work in effective CBPR partnerships;and b) to increase the number of Native American students who are actively engaged in CBPR -research on health issues of their home communities.Dr. Mike Babcock will lead the Research Education/Training Core. Dr. Babcock is a FullProfessor in the Department of Psychology and also an Affiliate Faculty member in the Divisionof Health Sciences. He has served as a faculty/research mentor for Native American students atMontana State University since 1994, sponsoring 16 minority students in his laboratory duringthis period. Dr. Babcock has been an active participant on numerous federally funded minoritytraining grants including MBRS, MARC, BRIDGES, MAP, and IMSD. Other relevantadministrative experience includes serving as Department Head of Psychology from 1998-2003,Graduate Program Coordinator (current), and Vice-Chair of the Institutional Animal Care andUse Committee (current). Dr. Babcock is a member of Society for the Advancement of Chicanesand Native Americans in Science and serves on the MSU/AIRO advisory board.The science needed to address Native American health disparities should be culturallycompetent, community-driven and participatory, yet most academic researchers are not trainedto conduct research in this manner10-57. Native American community partners deserve researchpartners that are well trained in health disparity issues,, cap able of translating across culturaldivides, and know how, when and where to actively engage with community partners in theresearch process. While there are some academic practitioners of CBPR in Montana, there existsno formal infrastructure in place to encourage and train other interested research practitioners.At the same time, while there are Native American community members who work inpartnership with academic researchers, there is no formal infrastructure to encourage and trainother potential community partners. Other than the work thus far of the Consortium, there is nomechanism to engage community partners in a CBPR process and training doesn't exist to assistthese engaged partners to conduct CBPR research. Just as community partners deserveresearcher partners who are trained and dedicated to partnership research practices, it isimportant to provide training and opportunities for community members to build capacity toengage in a research partnership.There are special skills and sensibilities required for successful CBPR work. These includelistening skills, communication using understandable and respectful language, group process,team development, negotiation, conflict resolution, and competency to operate in multiculturalcontexts. To this may be added the 'ability to be self-reflective and admit mistakes, capacity tooperate within different power structures, and humility'?^18?). Training for research andcommunity partners will be most valuable if conducted in concert so the partners are exposed to.and participate in the training process with each other. This is one method for building bridgesacross universities and communities. The first part of the Training Core's specific aim is todevelop and institutionalize this capacity-building infrastructure. This will occur in two ways: i)through a monthly seminar and lecture series and 2) through a quarterly 'CBPR on the road'series.
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