Evaluation of a workshop to improve community involvement in community-based participatory research efforts

Dear Editor, The United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) established the community-based Delta Nutrition Intervention and Research Initiative (NIRI) to address nutritionally-responsive chronic diseases in the Lower Mississippi River Delta Region of the U.S. (Yadrick et al., 2001). The final workshop curriculum was organized into two "stand alone" modules, which can be delivered separately or together, covering the topics of health research, community participation, research history, research ethics, institutional review boards and the research process. The evaluation design and instruments were developed in a participatory manner by researchers and Delta NIRI community representatives, and were approved by the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Institutional Review Board.