Madeleine Rae Rivera (She/They)

The article centered around two initiatives, the Advancing Equity in Health Research Community Advisory Board (CAB) and the Boston HealthNet Research Collaborative (Collaborative), launched for the purpose of establishing longitudinal partnerships between community leaders and academics in health services research. These initiatives were analyzed to envision a movement toward “collective impact” rather than isolated impact when approaching community-research partnerships. This was done through a process of measuring and monitoring that was built into their consistent communication framework of monthly and workgroup meetings.

The article appears to have been written very recently. It was published online on December 22, 2023, within two months of this annotated bibliography being written. It does bring something new to the conversation as a concerted effort to advance community-engaged research in the wake of the medical mistrust that racial and social inequities had amplified as COVID-19 infection rates continued to rise. This information is extremely relevant in advancing practice as it explores the need for research that is community informed and involved, as a means to reduce social or racial identity related mistrust in medical services. 

The authors of the article cite numerous other sources to support their ideas. The variety of co-authors represent partners involved with the CAB and Collaborative initiatives examined in this article. As such, they are representatives of both the community and academic scenes. As this issue is very rooted in community, there are definitely other individuals or groups that have much to contribute to the conversation but may not be represented in scholarly literature. These missing perspectives may be found on the websites of organizations participating in community-engaged research, or even in conversations happening within the communities being served themselves.

The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) was established in 1983 as a means to provide accommodation information to employers across the United States. It has since expanded its services, especially following the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and is a useful resource for both employers, employees, and service providers to seek information on workplace accommodations and the ADA. This knowledge is very important in creating an accessible environment in which social workers and their clients are able to understand their rights and options.

The cited source is an example of the JAN’s organized pages on specific disabilities. It provides a brief description of chronic pain, relates it to the ADA, lists some questions for employers to consider along with some key accommodations, while also including an extensive list of possible accommodations organized by limitation and work-related function. In addition, the page showcases real-life examples of situations and solutions related to chronic pain. As accommodations are made on a case-by-case basis, this is a great resource for social workers looking to assist their clients, or even to enhance their own work environment.