Integrating Community-Based Participatory Research Approaches in Randomized Controlled Trials

Despite greater attention to the ethics of experimental research methods over the past several decades, randomized controlled trials still face criticism for at times engaging in extractive or exploitative practices in their implementation. In response, there are growing calls from the field to incorporate community engagement to enhance attention to equity and improve acceptability through culturally responsive research and evaluation practices. This systematic review focuses specifically on the integration of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and related approaches in the experimental evaluation of thirty-six unique youth or family-focused interventions, described in sixty-nine articles spanning multiple disciplines. Results include summaries of study characteristics, commonly used strategies and approaches, and perceived strengths and challenges of the use of CBPR principles in randomized controlled trials. The findings highlight how CBPR can strengthen a study’s validity by integrating community voice and perspective at every stage of the evaluation process, helping address historical power imbalances and improving the utility of causal evidence. This review advocates for the expansion of CBPR approaches in experimental methods as a pathway to advance transformative social policy research that improves outcomes and reduces inequities.