PCOR, CER, and CBPR: Alphabet Soup or Complementary Fields of Health Research?

Abstract

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) and community- based participatory research (CBPR) are two fields of research that do not have a history of strong collaboration. However, CER and CBPR researchers could benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration to design and implement relevant, timely, action-oriented research. This commentary explores field-specific definitions of stakeholders and then outlines various roles stakeholders might play within grant-funded research. Questions such as "What stakeholders should be involved?" and "How are stakeholders involved?" are addressed. The goal of this commentary is to highlight how the expertise and experiences of CBPR investigators can enhance the field of CER and to describe strategies for encouraging stakeholder involvement in CER research through the lens of CBPR. It is recommended that a team-based approach to conducting stakeholder-engaged CER encourages multiple stakeholders and "end users" to contribute their diverse expertise to the research process and contributes to the development of research with an increased likelihood of improving patient health and healthcare.