A rapid review of methodological approaches and methods for researching or implementing community engagement that address complexity and relationality

Background There has been a growing interest in and support for community-engaged research over the past 40 years with funding agencies and policymakers calling for investment in development of long-term relationships with communities to address power imbalances and ensuring sustainable benefits to the community. Scholars have also identified differences between community-engaged research and traditional top-down research in community engagement in which experts conduct research in or on communities without involving the community in the research process. On the contrary, community-engaged research involves working collaboratively with communities and their representatives to build trusting and respectful relationships whilst conducting research for mutually beneficial outcomes. However, there is limited evidence identifying methodologies for researching community engagement in health and non-health fields.

Objective This review aimed to assess “What is known about various relationship-based methodologies and methods used to research or implement community engagement interventions that are informed by complexity theory and systems thinking”.

Methods A rapid review guided by the methods outlined by Arksey and O’Malley was conducted. A comprehensive search was completed by two reviewers in five electronic databases using keywords related to community engagement, research methodologies, systems thinking and complexity science. Studies were reviewed using a descriptive-analytical narrative method and data was categorized into thematic groups reflective of the main findings.

Results We identified 24 articles that met the criteria for this review. The majority of the studies adopted a range of relationship-based methodologies to meaningfully engage different stakeholders and account for complexity including Community-based participatory research (CBPR), participatory action research (PAR) and qualitative multi-case study approach. Dominant theories that underpinned selected methodologies were systems science, complexity theory or combination of these theories with CBPR and PAR frameworks to stimulate equitable working relationships. Papers that adopted only systems thinking as their philosophy did not equalize working relationships.

Conclusion Studies have begun to explore methodologies for researching community engagement to better meet the needs of communities. With the lack of a clear guideline to approach the selection of relationship-based methodologies, we recommend that researchers focus on: 1) methodologies that have equity of relationships as their core principle and practice, and 2) adopt hybrid theoretical models designed to release stakeholder capacity, enhance trust, and address disparities including power imbalance between researchers and the community.