Article
Simon C, Brothers S, Strichartz K, Coulter A, Voyles N, Herdlein A, & Vincent L. (2021). We are the researched, the researchers, and the discounted: The experiences of drug user activists as researchers. International Journal of Drug Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103364
Article Summary
This article is a commentary from activists in Urban Survivors Union, the United States national drug users union, focusing on the interactions between academic researchers and community members. The authors described multiple challenges that exist in these interactions, including power imbalances and structural issues. The authors also detailed their own experiences with community-based participatory research and how it often does not engage the community in the ways that it should. Community driven research is then described as research questions that are posed in collaboration between academic researchers and people in the community, not posed by academic researchers alone.
The authors conclude their commentary with multiple recommendations for moving toward community driven research instead of community-based participatory research. Some of the prioritized recommendations include: 1) research including community-initiated research questions, 2) directly impacted persons having priority hiring in low threshold positions, 3) research projects providing immediate benefit(s) to the community, 4) institutional review boards both protecting and empowering subject populations, and 5) community review boards providing ethical decision-making regarding research activities.