Date of Award

January 2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

School of Public Health

First Advisor

Jasmine Abrams

Second Advisor

Sakinah Suttiratana

Abstract

Background: Community-engaged research is growing in popularity across disciplines. As a research approach it has potential to mitigate power dynamics between researchers and participants, strengthen community capacity and encourage co-learning. Despite its growth in popularity, there are gaps in the formal definition of community-engaged research and the understanding of factors that lead to successful community-engaged research programs are variable. Methods: Using the Success Case Method (SCM) design, this study aims to understand factors that contribute to success in partnerships in a community-engaged research program in Connecticut. Two success cases from Community Research Fellows (CRF) program were selected and participants were interviewed. Rapid Qualitative Analysis, grounded in the CFIR framework was used to summarize interview data and develop themes across CFIR domains. Results: Several themes were developed across the five CFIR domains, with the highest concentration of themes in the Inner Setting Domain. Themes were iteratively refined and three core themes were developed: Early-Stage Alignment, Total CRF Integration and Consistent Engagement in the Partnership. Discussion: There was relatively strong agreement between CRF participants and investigators across and between cases. Each core theme consists of sub-themes from every CFIR domain, indicating the importance of holistic approach to partnership engagement. Results indicate that partnerships cannot simply rely on success in one domain but rather need efforts in all areas of an intervention to achieve success. Together, core themes highlight the need for consistent attention to partnerships, from inception to completion. Results from this study have implications for the creation of Standards-of-Practice Guidelines for community-engaged research at Yale Cancer Center and beyond.

Comments

This thesis is restricted to Yale network users only. It will be made publicly available on 03/16/2027

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