Senior Honors Research Symposium 2022

12 Senior Honors Student: Julia Utset Faculty Mentor: Dr. Karen D’Alonzo    Mentoring and Incen Ɵ vizing Community Members as Coauthors in Community Engaged Research Background/purpose – Community-based par Ɵ cipatory research (CBPR) aims for the inclusion of community members throughout each step of the research pro- cess. Partnerships for health equity between community members and the re- search team provide opportuni Ɵ es for collabora Ɵ on and a be Ʃ er understanding of social issues that the community faces. However, not o Ō en are community members given the opportunity to share their own voice as coauthors on publi- ca Ɵ ons. Community members, addi Ɵ onally, o Ō en do not feel connected enough to scholarly wri Ɵ ng in terms of gaining any advantage from it and rather view it as an unnecessary distrac Ɵ on. Through Paulo Freire’s empowerment educa Ɵ on theory, the purpose of this study is to incen Ɵ vize and mentor community mem- bers as coauthors to increase connectedness in community-engaged research. Methods, tools, par Ɵ cipants – The study will be conducted through various eth- nographic focus groups comprised of Hispanic women who are community healthcare workers, otherwise known as promotoras , in Middlesex County. The targeted promotoras have a background of par Ɵ cipa Ɵ on in community research through a scien Ɵ fi c ci Ɵ zen’s training program for Mexican adolescents. Some of these women will have served as coauthors in past scholarly work, others have not. Iden Ɵ fi ca Ɵ on of facilitators and barriers to scholarly wri Ɵ ng will be included alongside an explora Ɵ on of various approaches to co-author incen Ɵ viza Ɵ on. Spradley’s Developmental Research Sequence will be the driving force behind data collec Ɵ on and analysis. Results – Pending. Conclusion – Pending.