Transferring a Community-Based Participatory Research Project to Promote Physical Activity Among Socially Disadvantaged Women—Experiences From 15 Years of BIG

摘要

Introduction: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an effective approach for health promo-tion, especially with socially disadvantaged groups. However, the long-term implementation of such projects on a broad scale in practice is often challenging and research regarding the sustainable transfer of participa-tory research is lacking. This limits the scaling-up and public health impact of CBPR. Therefore, this study examines critical factors for the sustainable transfer of the BIG project, a multi-side CBPR project to promote physical activity among women in difficult life situations. Materials and Methods: For data collection we analyzed documents and conducted a reflection-workshop. We investigated methods of recruiting new BIG sites, as well as strategies from researchers to support project implementation and the maintenance of program activity at the sites. Moreover, we analyzed the reasons for discontinuing program activity at some former BIG sites, and the costs of transferring BIG projects. Results: Since its development in 2005, BIG was implemented at 17 sites and could sustain program activity at eight sites till today. The average duration of the sustained sites is more than nine years. The other sites maintained project activity for four years on average. According to this study’s findings, the extent of scien-tific support, provision of seed funding, and the person managing the project at the site, have a significant impact on the sustainable transfer. To finance scientific support and seed funding in BIG, a patchwork of funding agencies was needed. The transfer of BIG projects accrued costs of approximately 20,000 € per site and year. Through long-term implementation the costs for transfer of BIG per year decline. Discussion and Conclusion: The sustainable transfer of CBPR is challenging, yet possible. Increased sup-port of research and seed funding can facilitate long-term transfer. Nevertheless, other factors in the imple-mentation setting lie beyond scientific control. With scarce financial resources, researchers need to carefully balance between efforts of sustain and transfer a CBPR project. To address this issue, further research on the interrelation between sustainability and the transfer of CBPR as well as increased long-term funding would be favorable.