The BRIC training objective is to increase research literacy and capacity among community members, including Promotores/CHWs, who assist with the design and/or implementation of health-related research.

Existing research ethics trainings used by the majority of academic institutions (e.g., Collaborative for Institutional Training Initiative (CITI)) are designed for academic researchers. We learned from our stakeholders that even when translated, the content of these research ethics trainings are not contextualized to community-based research and are written using terminology unfamiliar to most Promotores/CHWs. We developed BRIC to bridge this gap and prepare community members to become research savvy and skilled research facilitators.

Promotores/CHWs are important members of the research team and, as such, should have access to effective and relevant training. Most research ethics education is designed for academics who have extensive training in research design and methods. We designed BRIC to build research capacity among individuals who have little formal academic research training yet, are involved with the design, implementation and reporting of community health research. If Promotores/CHWs have an understanding of how research is designed and implemented, they will be better able to carry out their responsibilities when supporting a research study. 

BRIC was developed by and for Promotores/CHWs. The instructional design process involved group and individual interviews with Promotores/CHWs and their supervisors. It is important to note that we have engaged key stakeholders at every step of the instructional design process to ensure we were communicating complex concepts in a manner that was culturally-grounded, relevant and accessible to our learners.

Through our interactions with Promotores/CHWs and their supervisors, we learned that Principal Investigators (PIs) and Project Managers (PMs) may not be aware of the gap in Promotor/CHW research knowledge and skills (i.e., research literacy, applied ethics, etc.). This lack of research understanding can influence data fidelity and the scientific integrity of the research study. Since research findings influence health policy and best practices, it is important for PIs and PMs to incorporate BRIC training for Promotores/CHWs.

Yes. We offer physical copies of both the English and Spanish versions of the course as an interactive guide.