December 14, 2022
Insurance Coverage / Funding
Question: For funders: what is a realistic amount of time needed to form a research team, decide on the research focus, and conduct and write up the research? Many such projects have 1 or at most 2 years of funding. Is that realistic?
Answer: This is such an important point. Particularly for partnered- or community-engaged research, development of the research team and focus can take a very long time and these activities are typically not funded. Ideally, this planning phase would be funded.
Implementation / Collaboration
Question: Could you explain how you developed your steering committee?
Answer: To form our Steering Committee, we aimed to recruit members from seven stakeholder groups in California: community doulas, former doula clients, clinicians, payers, advocates, researchers, and public health professionals. Our project leadership, which included researchers and leaders of community-based doula organizations, brainstormed a list of potential members based on their knowledge of stakeholders in the maternal and infant health space in California. We sent recruitment emails to potential Steering Committee members. Recruitment emails included information about the project’s goals, the expected time commitment, and compensation. Leadership also invited recipients to suggest other potential members.
Question: How were interactions with community Doulas facilitated? Bringing in? Inclusion efforts? Zoom? What was the outreach for inclusion?
Our Steering Committee consisted of seven stakeholder groups (described above), including community doulas. Once we formed our Steering Committee, we met via Zoom on a monthly basis. (Although we planned two in-person meetings, we were unable to follow through with this plan due to COVID-19.) We spent our first several meetings developing a Shared Values and Principles document to guide our work. One of our agreed upon shared values was to prioritize and center the needs and experiences of BIPOC who have experienced pregnancy and/or childbirth and the community doulas who serve them. We also agreed to acknowledge each Steering Committee member’s wisdom, knowledge, and perspectives.
Research
Question: Do you have tips to share with us to establish the research-community partnerships if we haven't done it before? Did the communities apply the research findings into practice? in what way? Any tips to share with us for that dissemination and translation piece? Thanks!
Answer: Relationship building is critical and, ideally, this happens well before any funded research project. Understanding the community organization’s goals, values, and priorities is also key and can help to align towards shared project goals. Ongoing sharing of information on preliminary findings or other things that are learned throughout the research process is important. It can help to share research findings in more accessible, approachable, and digestible ways.