Older Adults and Community-Based Organizations as Research Partners: Three Methodological Case Examples

TL;DR

This paper explores methods for involving older adults and community organizations in research through three case studies focused on collaborative approaches.

Contribution

The paper introduces three distinct methodological models for community-based research with older adults, emphasizing sustainable engagement and collaboration.

Findings

Building community partnerships and advisory boards can support ongoing collaborative research networks.

A laddered model of engagement can effectively build capacity among older adults in research teams.

Ethnographic research can benefit from sustained trust-building and co-authorship with participants.

Abstract

This session presents approaches to engaging in community-based research using case examples from three individual investigators and their work. The first example, presented by Dr. Susan Stark, describes a trajectory of starting with building community partnerships, then developing participant advisory boards, and finally creating and supporting an ongoing community-based research network of community-based organizations regularly engaged in a collaborative process supporting local research ranging from fall prevention to community participation in greater St. Louis and the Missouri state area. The second example, presented by Dr. Caitlin Coyle, describes a laddered model of building capacity among older adults starting with lower levels stakeholder engagement through to paid, trained membership in the academic research team employed to evaluate age-friendly communities in New England that reflects the needs and preferences of older community members. The third example, presented by Dr. Lydia Ogden, describes a process of building trust between the researcher and study participant in ethnographic research at a clubhouse for older adults with serious mental illness by developing and sustaining a culture of belonging within the collaborative research process that honors participant voices across the study design, including co-authorship of study findings. Shared elements across case examples are identified and discussed, with the aim of facilitating a conversation with the audience about learnings from each model and recommendations for researchers seeking to engage older adults and local communities meaningfully and in a sustained way in their research.