Objectives: Meaningful engagement between cancer survivors, stakeholders, and researchers is essential for ensuring the cultural appropriateness and acceptability of adapted psychosocial interventions. Effective engagement arises not from isolated input but from sustained collaboration throughout the research process – often relying on community advisory boards (CABs). Our goal was to evaluate the quality of CAB engagement and partnership during the adaptation of a psychosocial intervention for Latina breast cancer survivors (LBCS).
Sample and Setting: The partnership included research staff and the CAB (i.e., 13 individuals representing LBCS, partners, clinicians and advocates). The CAB convened 14 times virtually and provided electronic input for rapid feedback, participated in debriefing sessions to reflect on study progress and inform study design.
Procedures: We employed a convergent mixed-methods evaluation framework, incorporating multiple data sources, including meeting minutes, research team reflections, post-meeting surveys, and 10 individual interviews. Data analysis included descriptive statistics for longitudinal survey data and thematic analysis for qualitative data.
Results: Findings reflect high CAB satisfaction and meaningful engagement. Most CAB members agreed that meetings had clear objectives (92%), promoted shared decision-making (89%), allowed comfortable expression of opinions (91%), and made them feel valued (92%). Qualitative findings provided insight into strategies for strengthening engagement. Culturally responsive approaches encouraged collaboration despite logistical participation barriers. Trust-building through honesty, transparency, and respect was essential. The CAB's diverse backgrounds enabled co-learning that strengthened cultural responsiveness in recruitment and research design. CAB insights were especially valuable during adaptation of the psychosocial intervention and study recruitment for the randomized control trial.
Conclusion: CABs facilitate effective cancer survivors and stakeholder engagement by guiding intervention adaptation, informing trial design, and enhancing recruitment approaches that address practical barriers while maintaining cultural responsiveness, transparency, and mutual respect. These approaches create researcher-patient-stakeholder partnerships that improve research outcomes by grounding interventions in real-world needs and lived experience.