Healthy Transitions: A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach with Burundians with Refugee Status

Abstract

Healthy Transitions is a program of the University of Tennessee’s Ready for the World initiative, a broad plan to transform campus culture and prepare students for the 21 st century. Healthy Transitions partners the university with a local community of Burundian refugees. The university joined several community organizations interested in the refugees’ integration, and in exam ining the Burundians’ experiences and perceptions during and post migration. Focus group data identified key areas of concern for the Burundians. Community-based participatory research provided relevant data and an infrastructure, including a non profit established by the Burundians, that enable the Burundian community to co-direct ongoing research and programming.