Engagement and Quality of Life in Under-Represented Older Adults: A Community-Based Participatory Research Project

This research article provides an overview of a community-based participatory research project that involved a partnership between Indiana University and the Senior Companions Program of Catholic Charities Indianapolis. Sixty senior companions participated in focus groups to describe how the Senior Companions Program impacts their quality of life as well as that of their clients, who were predominately African Americans.

The authors attribute the success of their research project to the following: working closely together to meet project completion requirements; a mutually respectful relationship between the partners and a long-standing collaboration prior to the initiation of the research project; engagement of study subjects themselves from the beginning of the project; team members’ demonstrated commitment and passion to serving the elderly; and support from community leadership.

Brown ER, Lu Y, Beaven J, et al. Engagement and quality of life in under-represented older adults: A community–based participatory research project. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 2017;7(1):E7-E9.