Objectives/Goals: Meaningful community engagement is critical to trustworthy translational research, yet engagement strategies outside structured meetings are rarely described. For a study of HIV PrEP implementation on college campuses, a Community Involved Board (CIB) participated in between-session activities (BSAs), described below. Methods/Study Population: Six CIB members were recruited to attend bi-monthly sessions from 2024 to 2025. The research team developed each BSA from relevant components of key theoretical frameworks including Labor Process Theory, Critical Pedagogy, and Community-Based Participatory Research. These frameworks informed the design of activities such as critical reflection journals, media audits of health messaging on public and social platforms, and synchronous activities such as CIB-led campus tours for researchers. BSA “responses” informed the direction of subsequent sessions. The five BSAs were optional, and participants were compensated 15–25 per activity. Feedback from research team debriefing sessions and CIB member evaluations guided BSA refinement and implementation. Results/Anticipated Results: CIB members completed nearly all BSAs and perceived their input as meaningfully shaping session and project goals. Evaluations and debriefing notes revealed that BSAs promoted continuity in participation, individual and group agency, and reflexivity among CIB members. Researchers noted improved depth, specificity, and sharing during CIB sessions and increased communication between CIB members and the research team regarding logistics, successes, and challenges related to BSA completion. Reported barriers to BSA implementation included competing demands (from family, work, and school) and inconsistent expectations for BSA completion. The research team addressed challenges by offering timeline flexibility, altering compensation structures and reflexively examining and discussing power disparities. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Translational research relies on responsive and sustainable community engagement. The BSA approach demonstrates how intentional, theory-informed activities can translate engagement principles into practice, maintaining meaningful and authentic collaboration beyond structured community meetings.
Campo et al. (Wed,) studied this question.