Community-Based Participatory Research: The College As the Focal Community

This article describes one small BSW program’s engagement in community- based participatory research (CBPR) in which the college community was the focus of the social change effort and social work undergraduates were the research partners. Over a 3-year period students engaged college community stakeholders, collected data, and presented findings on student alcohol use and abuse to promote discussion and inclusion of harm reduction strategies in the college response to this issue. The project resulted in an ongoing dialogue among the student researchers and administration regarding revisions to the campus alcohol policy. Written from the perspectives of a student researcher and faculty mentor, an overview of CBPR as a research method is presented, associated challenges discussed, a case study using the method summarized, and suggestions for implementing this pedagogy are presented. CBPR conceptualized this way offers opportunities for students to engage more fully with research concepts while promoting social change on their campuses