“You're Building Trust, You're Building Rapport”: Contributions from Implementers of Health-Focused Community Engagement

Health-focused community engagement (CE) is a common intervention to combat existing healthcare inequity and its disproportionate impact on the health of underserved Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. While health-focused CE may contribute to better health outcomes by establishing feelings of empowerment within the community, strengthening relationships, and increasing a community’s resiliency, the perspective of the implementers is often not considered. The current study aims to address this gap by understanding the experiences, beliefs, values, and assessments of health-focused CE staff.

We completed qualitative interviews with individuals conducting health-focused CE and documented their participation in community events to examine the experiences, beliefs, values, and assessments of conducting health-focused CE in underserved communities. Between April and October, 2022, the study team collected data from 26 community events ranging from “very small” (~5 people) to “very large” (~4,000 people), making direct contact with approximately 34 people per event. Qualitative analysis identified three themes regarding the conduct of health-focused CE: 1) mirroring racial/ethnic diversity and language with community members is critical to building trustworthy relationships; 2) while seemingly inconsequential, structural and logistical components are key for building connections that lead to positive health-behavior changes; 3) implementers are driven by and view each meaningful interaction as a piece of the puzzle to create structural change. Evaluating the conduct of health-focused CE through implementor experiences, beliefs, values, and assessments increases the understanding of intervention processes and educates the field on the needs of underserved individuals without disrupting community relationships.