Community-based participatory research (CBPR) emerged in response to the longstanding tradition of "top-down" research-studies in which social scientists observe social phenomena and community problems as outsiders, separate from the participants' daily lives. CBPR is more immersive, fostering partnerships between academic and community organizations that increase the value and consequence of the research for all partners. The current perspectives gleaned from this school of research have been wildly well-received, in no small part because they address the complexity of the human experience in their conclusions. HANDBOOK OF COMMUNITY-BASED PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH codifies the methods and theories of this research approach and articulates an expansive vision of health that includes gender equality, safe and adequate housing, and freedom from violence. Topic-based chapters apply the theory and methods of CBPR to real world problems affecting women, ethnic and racial minorities, and immigrant communities such as sexual violence, exposure to environmental toxins, and lack of access to preventive care as well as suggesting future directions for effective, culturally sensitive research. HANDBOOK OF COMMUNITY-BASED PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH is required reading for academics, policy makers, and students seeking meaningful social change through scholarship.
Steven S. Coughlin, Ph.D, is Associate Professor at Augusta University and Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at Emory University. Until recently, he was a Visiting Professor in the College of Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Until 2014, he was Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis and Director of the Research Core for the Research Center on Health Disparities, Equity, and the Exposome. Previously, he was a senior epidemiologist in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at CDC in Atlanta.
Maria E. Fernandez, Ph.D, is Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas, School of Public Health (SPH) and Director of the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR).
Selina A. Smith, Ph.D, MDiv, is the Director of the Augusta University (AU) Institute of Public and Preventive Health (IPPH). The IPPH is AU's first public health institute (established in 2012). Dr. Smith holds appointments as Professor and Curtis G. Hames, MD Distinguished Chair, Department of Family Medicine, Medical College of Georgia (MCG) and Member, Population Sciences, Cancer Center.
