摘要：With its commitment to balancing research and action, community-based participatory research (CBPR) is well suited to efforts at the intersections of science, practice, and policy to eliminate health disparities. Drawing on a larger study, we use 2 case studies to highlight the role of CBPR in helping achieve policy changes promoting, respectively, access to healthy foods (Bayview, San Francisco, CA) and higher air quality standards (Harlem, New York, NY). We then present facilitating factors and challenges faced across all 10 case studies from the larger study. Although we underscore the importance of analyzing contribution rather than claiming attribution in policy-focused work, CBPR's attention to both the distributive and the procedural justice necessary for eliminating health disparities may make it a particularly relevant approach in such work. The past 2 decades have seen growing attention to community-based participatory research (CBPR) as an alternative paradigm that may hold particular promise for addressing some of our most persistent health disparities. Succinctly defined as “systematic inquiry, with the participation of those affected by the problem, for the purposes of education and action or affecting social change,” 1 (p2) CBPR is not a research method but an orientation to research that emphasizes “equitable” engagement of all partners throughout the research process, from problem definition through data collection and analysis to the dissemination and use of findings to help affect change. 2 , 3 Although the action phase of CBPR can take many forms, CBPR partnerships increasingly are focusing on the policy level as a means of taking their work to scale to eliminate health disparities. 4 – 6 I examine the potential of CBPR as a strategy at the intersections of research, practice, and policy to eliminate health disparities. Drawing on findings of a national multisite case study analysis, 7 , 8 I use 2 case examples to illustrate the utility of this approach for linking place-based research and action with broader policy change. I then highlight factors across all 10 sites in the larger study that appeared to support or impede partnership efforts at the policy level. Although the importance of analyzing contribution rather than attribution in policy-focused work is underscored, I emphasize the potential of CBPR as a strategy for helping promote healthy public policy. I also discuss 2 interrelated concepts relevant to eliminating health disparities: distributive justice and procedural justice . 9 The former term, widely used in environmental justice work, typically refers to the need to redress disproportionate exposure to pollutants and other environmental hazards in low-income communities and communities of color. As illustrated in this paper, however, distributive justice also can relate to disproportionate lack of access to resources or assets, such as safe recreation areas and stores selling high-quality and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. Finally, eliminating health disparities requires the promotion of procedural justice, 9 defined here as equitable processes through which low-income communities of color, rural residents, and other marginalized groups can gain a seat at the table—and stay at the table, having a real voice in decision making affecting their lives.
