Nashville NAACP tobacco prevention initiative: An example of community-based participatory action research

B42 Community-based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) is a research approach that changes the power dynamics of traditional research by engaging research participants, not exclusively as subjects of research, but as active members in the entire research process (design, data collection, interpretation, and dissemination). CBPAR goes a step further than research in that its intent is to produce meaningful social change. CBPAR involves community members collaborating as equal partners with researchers and health professionals to study and transform communities in mutually beneficial ways. The Nashville NAACP Tobacco Prevention Initiative serves as an example of CBPAR.
 The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe the process and outcomes of CBPAR used by the Nashville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Tennessee State University, Metro Nashville Health Department, and area African American churches to address tobacco health disparities among African Americans in Nashville, Tennessee.
 The methods used for this study include participant observation, focus group data, key informant interviews and historical archives. This ethnographic study chronicles the development of the initiative from its inception in 2006 to the present.
 The Nashville NAACP Tobacco Prevention Initiative through its use of CBPAR has resulted in church-based policy change (anti-tobacco church property declarations); community-based tobacco prevention activities (2006 Kick Butts Community Forum, 2007 World No Tobacco Day Event); service learning opportunities for local college students; community/academic presentations at national conferences (2007 American Cancer Society, 2007 American Association of Cancer Educators); media opportunities (newspaper articles, radio advertisements); support of state and local anti-tobacco legislation; congregational needs assessment development; clear targeting of tobacco prevention; and focused anti-tobacco interventions. Each of these outcomes has produced lessons learned which support the continued sustainability of the initiative.
 The initiative has effectively brought community, faith, academic and health professionals together as equals to understand and address tobacco-related issues affecting African Americans in Nashville. CBPAR has created new ways of engaging and sustaining research partners by developing social change agents for tobacco prevention. Lastly, CBPR has proved effective in developing relevant anti-tobacco activities and interventions, which support cancer prevention in local communities.