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Participatory Health Research in North America: From Community Engagement to Evidence-Informed Practice

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Participatory Health Research

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Abstract

Participatory research is the systematic co-creation of new knowledge by researchers working in equitable partnerships with those affected by the issue under study or those who will benefit from or ultimately act on its results. In the North American context, participatory research, in general and particularly in health, has evolved as an approach to research ownership and co-governance, rather than a methodology or set of research methods. This reflects the contexts, settings, and partners that have valued and applied this approach over the past four decades to address community, clinical service, and policy needs. In this chapter, we will explore the foundations of participatory health research in North America, identifying the rationale for the shift from methodology to approach and then focusing on its emergence in the pre-health promotion era, its ascendency in driving community-based research, its move from health promotion to health practice, and its role in knowledge translation and the critique of evidence-based practice. From this perspective, we will conclude with a discussion of the current gaps in our understanding of participatory health research and directions for further study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Entry Medical School and Health Research Institute (HRI), University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Jon Salsberg

  2. Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Nickoo Merati

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  1. Jon Salsberg
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  2. Nickoo Merati
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Correspondence to Jon Salsberg .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Social Health, Catholic University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Germany

    Michael T. Wright

  2. School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Krystyna Kongats

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Salsberg, J., Merati, N. (2018). Participatory Health Research in North America: From Community Engagement to Evidence-Informed Practice. In: Wright, M., Kongats, K. (eds) Participatory Health Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92177-8_13

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