The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Recently, there has been increased interest in and funding support for community based participatory research (CBPR), in which academic researchers work in partnership with community members. CBPR has been identified as a way to address health disparities by engaging marginalized communities, building capacity in those communities, and establishing relationships based on inclusivity, equity, and achieving parity. Yet such research challenges institutionalized academic ways of knowing that shape ethical deliberations, define research and research subjects in particular ways, and indirectly prioritize particular kinds of research. Community-academic research partnerships may face numerous institutional and other obstacles, including human subjects review issues.

Methods: In this case study, we draw on communitarian ethics and critical social theoretical perspectives to analyze ethical tensions that arose when a CBPR study of single cigarette sales was denied institutional review board (IRB) approval.

Results: CBPR may require expanding ethics dialogues beyond procedural, principle-based approaches. The current ethics culture of academia may sometimes protect institutional power at the expense of community empowerment. If community-based participatory research partnerships with academia are valued as worthwhile, then research partners, funders and institutions must consider how to address existing structural and other barriers to such projects.