Making Human Subject Protection Training Community Responsive: Experiences Delivering on the Community-Based Participatory Research Promise

Background: A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was used by the California-based Environmental Railyard Research (ENRRICH) Study, a partnership between scientists from Loma Linda University (LLU) and a local community organization, with the aim of assessing the health effects of exposure to emissions from a rail yard on a community.

Methods/Results: To allow meaningful community participation in all study activities and comply with institutional review board (IRB) requirements, all participants involved needed to be properly trained and certified in the ethical conduct of human subjects (HS) research. Existing IRB training materials and the conventional certification methods designed for university scientists are not well-suited for community members who often face educational as well as language barriers.

Conclusion: The purpose of this article is to share experiences in developing and implementing a customized human subject research curriculum, which was community responsive and addressed IRB requirements.