Building a community-academic partnership in public housing: Lessons from applying the CBPR Partnership Readiness Model
This paper demonstrates that applying the CBPR Partnership Readiness Model to a Project Advisory Board effectively strengthened a community-academic partnership focused on improving DASH diet adherence among low-income African American women in public housing, resulting in increased membership and satisfaction with local food equity initiatives.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed. It is not medical advice. Do not make health decisions based on this content. Read full disclaimer
High blood pressure is a silent threat that strikes far more often in African American women than in any other group of women in the United States. For decades, doctors have known that a specific way of eating, called the DASH diet, can lower this pressure and protect the heart. This eating plan asks people to fill their plates with fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean meats while cutting back on salt, sugary drinks, and fatty foods. Yet, despite knowing that this diet works, many people struggle to follow it. The reasons are often not about a lack of willpower, but about the reality of daily life: healthy food can be expensive, hard to find in certain neighborhoods, or difficult to prepare without the right kitchen tools. When researchers try to help communities adopt this diet, they often face a wall of mistrust or confusion. The most successful efforts happen not when experts tell a community what to do, but when experts and community members sit down together as equals to figure out the solution.
This paper tells the story of how a team of university researchers and residents of public housing in Lexington, Kentucky, built such a partnership to tackle high blood pressure. The researchers wanted to create a cookbook of soul food recipes that fit the DASH diet, but they knew they could not do it alone. They needed the wisdom of the women who actually lived in the housing projects. To make sure their collaboration worked, they used a specific framework called the Community-Based Participatory Research Partnership Readiness Model. Think of this model as a checklist that helps two different groups check if they are truly ready to work together, ensuring they share the same values, understand their roles, and have the resources to keep going. The researchers applied this checklist to their own group, which they called a Project Advisory Board, to see how well they were functioning and what they needed to improve.
The journey began with a small group of four people, including women living in public housing, staff from the housing authority, and leaders from local food organizations. The researchers created a thirty-three-page workbook to explain the project's goals, the science behind high blood pressure, and what it meant to be part of the board. They distributed this workbook to everyone before their first meeting, using simple language and pictures of familiar foods like okra and black-eyed peas to make the concepts feel welcoming. The team held regular meetings, sometimes in person and sometimes online, and provided a fifty-dollar gift card to each member for their time. They also recorded every conversation and sent out clear summaries afterward so everyone stayed on the same page.
As the project moved forward, the team realized that their first group of members did not fully represent the people they were trying to help. The initial board had very few women who actually lived in the public housing units. Listening to this feedback, the researchers launched a second round of recruitment. This time, they focused specifically on finding more residents from the target community. This effort was successful; the number of board members grew by one hundred and fifty percent, bringing the total to ten individuals. The new group included a higher percentage of African American women living in public housing, ensuring that the voices of those most affected by the problem were now at the center of the conversation.
The results of applying the readiness model showed that the partnership was strong, but it also revealed important areas for growth. The members reported that they felt their time was well spent and that the discussions helped them think about food equity in their own organizations. One member, for instance, used the ideas from the meetings to decide what kinds of food to stock in a new grocery store in the community. The housing authority staff saw the board as a valuable way to find new health resources for the families they served. However, the team also learned that flexibility was crucial. While many members could attend virtual meetings, some struggled with limited internet access, which meant that offering both online and in-person options was necessary to keep everyone involved.
The study found that the readiness model was a useful tool for checking the health of the partnership. It helped the researchers see that they had built a strong foundation of shared values and that the board members felt a sense of mutual benefit. The workbook served as a key tool for making sure everyone understood the goals. The researchers also noted that having a mix of people with different skills—some with deep knowledge of the community and others with research expertise—made the group stronger. The paper concludes that for partnerships to succeed, especially in public housing communities, the academic team must be willing to listen, adapt, and ensure that the people most impacted by the research are the ones guiding the way. The work is not finished, but the foundation built through this careful, collaborative process suggests that the project is well-positioned to create real change in how the community approaches heart-healthy eating.
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