Processes and Bidirectional Benefits of a Community Advisory Board of Latino Sexual Minority Men in South Florida

Community engagement is key to impactful health research. This paper describes the processes and outcomes of a community advisory board (CAB) to promote engagement in HIV and mental health research among Latino sexual minority men (LSMM) and provides a model for researchers to increase community engagement in their research. Authors (CAB members and researchers) describe the process of establishing, maintaining, and sustaining the CAB and detail its bidirectional benefits. Bidirectional benefits include facilitating belongingness among LSMM community members, bolstering trust of health research, increasing cultural appropriateness of research, and developing community-initiated studies.