Meetings and Workshops 2006

On August 14 & 15, 2006, AACORN hosted its 4th Annual Meeting and 2nd Invited Workshop. The workshop was entitled: Participatory Research on African American Community Weight Issues: Defining the State of the Art. The goal of this workshop was to explore how Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) can inform obesity research. Specific objectives included:

• Reviewing concepts, principles, issues in participatory research and clarifying how CBPR approaches apply to obesity prevention and treatment;
• Exchanging ideas with representative community members in order for researchers to understand what constitutes a successful research project to community residents and for the communities to understand what is involved in conducting research;
• In conjunction with scholars in other areas of public health research, reviewing and reflecting on community priorities and related issues (e.g., housing, violence and incarceration) that may be more immediate than those related to obesity and how these interface with efforts to address obesity; and
• Considering studies in African American communities that have strong participatory components, including but not limited to research to improve nutrition, physical activity levels, or weight levels in African American communities.

Workshop sessions reviewed the principles of CBPR, with a focus on community constructions of successful collaborations. Workshop presentations included:

• Community Priorities and Life Contexts
• Partnerships in Action
• Model CBPR Programs
• A View of CBPR from Funders and Scientific Journal Editors

AACORN gratefully acknowledges our sponsorship for this workshop:

• The Directors for Health Promotion and Education, which is funded by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• A planning grant to AACORN from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• The Penn-Cheyney EXPORT Center for Inner City Health, which is funded by the *National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health

*Funding for this conference was made possible (in part) by P60MD000209-05 from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention by trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Click here to download the workshop proceedings (PDF format).