Researcher and community partner perspectives on community-engaged research during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: We sought to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted community-engaged research (CEnR) from both researcher and community partner perspectives, identify challenges and facilitators affecting their experiences, and describe desired supports for CEnR during future health crises. Methods: We conducted semi-structured, virtual interviews with ten researchers and eight partners who conducted or collaborated on CEnR during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis. We analyzed the transcribed data thematically through an iterative process involving memoing, consensus coding, and reviewing memos and code reports to identify and describe key categories and themes. Results: Challenges identified were related to wellbeing and personal circumstances, such as feeling burnt out, managing increased caregiving responsibilities, or concern about risk of illness; institutional barriers, such as inflexible and burdensome financial, regulatory, and administrative policies; and virtual engagement, such as distractions, limited Internet access, or difficulty forming relationships online. Facilitators fell into two categories. Foundational factors such as strong existing partnerships, funding, and project-specific circumstances were critical to facilitating CEnR activities. Strategy-based facilitators focused on overcoming challenges and included communication, flexibility, risk mitigation, and utilizing techniques to enhance virtual engagement. Desired supports included flexible funding, resources for navigating research during crises, and increased virtual engagement accessibility and guidance. Conclusions: By better understanding challenges and facilitators affecting experiences of researchers and community partners during the COVID-19 pandemic, we can develop strategies and resources to better support CEnR partnerships during future crises.