Community-Based Participatory Research

Community Based Participatory Research by Dr. Karen Hacker presents a practical approach to CBPR by describing how an individual researcher might understand and then actually conduct CBPR research. This how-to book provides a concise overview of CBPR theoretical underpinnings, methods considerations, and ethical issues in an accessible format interspersed with real life case examples that can accompany other methodologic texts in multiple disciplines.

Dr. Karen Hacker, M.D., MPH, is the executive director of the Institute for Community Health, a community research organization dedicated to CBPR (Community Based Participatory Research) in Cambridge, MA. She is an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, where she teaches Community-Based Participatory Action Research. She serves as the Senior Medical Director for Public and Community Health at the Cambridge Health Alliance and provides leadership for population health initiatives as well as practicing as a primary care physician. She received her M.D. from Northwestern University, her adolescent medicine fellowship from Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and her master’s from Boston University. She has extensive experience with CBPR and has worked with diverse community partners to catalyze change in both practice and research environments focusing on topics that range from child mental health and immigrant health to obesity prevention.