Persons With Disabilities and Social Equity in the Research Process: A Systematic Review of Community-Based Participatory Research Within Disability Communities

To explore the involvement of persons with disabilities in the community-based participatory research (CBPR) process, the authors conducted a systematic review of CBPR articles involving disability communities. Following PRISMA guidelines, 19 CBPR studies published between 2014 and 2024 met inclusion criteria. Study findings were analyzed in alignment with the core components of CBPR (e.g., formation of partnerships, assessing community strengths and dynamics, identifying priority concerns, designing and conducting intervention/policy research, feeding back and interpreting findings, disseminating and translating findings; Israel et al., 2012). Our systematic review found CBPR partnerships inclusive of academic researchers, community members, direct service providers, and community leaders. More than 65% of the studies identified direct service provision as a community priority. Across studies, disability community members were likely to be involved in four CBPR core components: (a) identification of community priorities, (b) designing and conducting research, (c) feeding back and interpreting data, and (d) translation of findings into products. The study findings also identify a need for academic researchers to ensure that disability community members are involved in identifying research questions, creating governance to share power and leadership throughout the CBPR process, recruiting community members, and disseminating findings. Given the importance of social justice and equity for persons with disabilities, through CBPR, academic researchers have the opportunity to empower individuals to engage in action to change policy, practice, and service delivery for the betterment of their communities.