Developing Human Subjects Protection Training for Community Projects

Creating a customizable IRB training curriculum for community-based projects

Full Project Name:Human Subjects Protection Training & Language Barriers Should Not Burden Healthier Wisconsin ProjectsPrimary Community Organization:United Community CenterPrimary Academic Partner:Ryan Spellecy, Institute for Health and Equity; David Clark, IRB OfficeAward Amount:$254,692

Award Date

July2015

Project Duration:30 months

Project Description Narrative:

In March 2014, AHW co-hosted a Community Engagement in Research (CEnR) and Institutional Review Board (IRB) workshop at which participants identified a need for innovative methods for carrying out human research protection training for community engaged research projects working with diverse community partner organizations. Current products were identified as time consuming, not delivered at appropriate reading levels, not including content that was applicable to Wisconsin's CEnR projects, and not meeting the unique needs of Wisconsin's communities.

This project aimed to develop a customizable curriculum, including course outline and development manual, for partners of community-based projects to deliver project-specific training to satisfy IRB requirements in lieu of CITI training and create a flexible translation policy and procedures.

Project partners: Friedens Community Ministries, Silver Spring Neighborhood Center, United Community Center, Medical College of Wisconsin

Outcomes & Lessons Learned:

Created "Opening Doors to Community Research: A community-based human subject protection training curriculum" as a community-based, project-specific alternative to satisfy IRB requirements in lieu of CITI training, along with a trainers guide and supporting materials for community-based trainers to use the curriculum
Translated the standard IRB consent template into Spanish to reduce the burden of translation/back-translation and created a path for future translations into other languages