The purpose of the 38.1 issue of Family & Community Health is to highlight family and community health-related community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects focused specifically on youth as partners in the research process. CBPR equitably involves both community members and academicians as partners contributing unique strengths to the research process.1,2 In contrast to traditional research approaches, projects and studies using a CBPR approach rely on input and collaboration from community members at many steps of the research process, from defining the research topic to disseminating the results.2 CBPR is not a research method in itself but rather a theoretical framework distinguished by the value placed on cooperative research efforts and in the relevance of the research for communities.1

CBPR can be distinguished from other forms of action research, in part, not only because of the focus on health from a community perspective but also due to its emphasis on eradication of health disparities through action and social change.2 It should be distinguished from "community-based or placed research," which emphasizes conducting research in a community as a place or setting, with only limited, if any, involvement of community members in what is primarily a researcher-driven enterprise. Compared with traditional research approaches, CBPR values local knowledge and supports co-researchers in understanding and addressing health disparities that affect their own community.3 CBPR positions community members as valuable partners in improving health outcomes rather than relying on an outside, albeit well-intentioned, expert to diagnose problems and design interventions. Whereas traditional research approaches may disempower participants by "telling people what they ought to do or how they should solve their problems,"4^(p66) CBPR promotes co-learning, capacity-building, and empowerment among those who have traditionally had little power or status in research. Through equitable ownership of and participation in the project, community members become empowered "doers" working toward positive change, rather than distant subjects of a researcher-dominated inquiry.5

CBPR is powerful when partnering with youth to understand issues affecting children and adolescents. More often than not, youths serve as uninformed subjects in traditional research6 and are viewed as uninterested or unqualified to participate in the research process. CBPR offers an alternative to traditional research with youth but requires a significant paradigm shift where youth perspectives are recognized as important sources of knowledge and expertise about their unique, contextual, and complex youth experience. When positioned as partners rather than passive participants in the full research process, youths are more likely to take ownership of research findings and resulting interventions/programs. In much of the previous literature self-described as CBPR, youths do not actually serve as partners in the research process but rather have research conducted on or about them.7 Although extremely diverse in scope, method, and approach, all the articles selected for the 38.1 issue are based on or describe studies, projects, and partnerships conducted in active collaboration with youth in one or several of the 5 phases of CBPR: (1) partnership formation and maintenance; (2) community assessment and diagnosis; (3) definition of the issue; (4) documentation and evaluation of the partnership process; and (5) feedback, interpretation, dissemination, and application of results.2^(p13)

-Lisa M. Vaughn, PhD

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