Increasing Capacity for Community-Engaged Research in Prisons: The Utility of a Basic Research Short Course

The use of community-engaged research strategies is proliferating, yet some community and academic partners are challenged by shared language and understanding of research concepts. This paper outlines an effort to enhance research literacy and build capacity for community-engaged research among incarcerated persons and staff in a Midwest prison. Innovation advisory groups were developed through a larger project to improve prison culture and climate. Advisors identified a need for a short course on research to increase skills and knowledge. A member of the university research team delivered a six-part research course that aimed to increase course participants’ skills and knowledge to engage in the co-creation of interventions, testable research questions, research projects, grants, and dissemination products. Twenty-seven prison staff and incarcerated persons completed the course. They ranged in age from 22 to 64 years old, with 38% of participants identifying as a person of color. Changes in participants’ research knowledge, attitudes toward research, and barriers to research were measured using a pre-post research design. Offering a short research course is one promising strategy for building capacity for community-engaged research in prisons. The implications for enhancing participatory research projects in prisons are described and benefits and challenges of these types of courses.