Abstract B076: Qualitative insights into building an effective community advisory board for cancer disparities research
Authors: Alexander Leah , Erves Jennifer , Selove Rebecca , McDermott Ila , Jenkins J'la , Morris Phillip , Schlundt David 
Published: September 2024

To address cancer disparities in minority and underserved communities, many organizations and research studies use a community advisory board (CAB) to better understand the needs, preferences, and perceptions of communities experiencing health inequities. Researchers have described a range of problems resulting in less than optional engagement of CAB members. Academic members of an NCI-funded cancer partnership interviewed 15 of the 20 members of their CAB to better understand their perceptions of their roles and expectations, as well as barriers and facilitators of engagement. Two trained team members coded the transcripts and conducted qualitative analysis using an iterative inductive/deductive framework. Deductively, we used principles of community-engaged research, and inductively we used coded quotes to identify details in the CAB members’ perspectives. The research team collaborated in organizing major themes into a conceptual framework to describe context, expectations, barriers and facilitators, and recommended strategies for strengthening involvement and benefit of CAB participation for its members. CAB members identified individual factors associated with their involvement including skills (communication, problem solving, interpersonal, leadership, professional, and advocacy), and motivations (community commitment, personal or family experience with cancer). The interviews indicated that there is a gap between CAB members’ perceptions of their roles and what they expect from participation and attendance in CAB meetings, and those of the academic team as conveyed verbally, in the CAB manual, and during onboarding activities. Barriers to enthusiastic engagement include disruptions associated with the COVID experience, members’ competing priorities, and role ambiguity. The CAB members’ resources and connections to the community were identified as facilitators. All these factors influenced the amount and quality of engagement of members with the academic partners and the community at large. Participants suggested many useful adaptations of the CAB-academic partnership, including enhanced training, improved communication, explicit role definitions, clear expectations around engagement with research, and better onboarding for new members. Scientists using a CAB to enhance community engagement should approach building a robust CAB as a deliberate process involving considerable planning, organization, and attention. Projects using a CAB can use the findings from this project to organize a community-academic partnership that will effectively and efficiently contribute to clinical, translational, and community-engaged work addressing cancer health disparities.

Citation Format: Leah Alexander, Jennifer Erves, Rebecca Selove, Ila McDermott, J'la Jenkins, Phillip Morris, David Schlundt. Qualitative insights into building an effective community advisory board for cancer disparities research [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B076.