'Be gentle and be sincere about it': a story about community-based primary care research.

Practice-based researchers in primary care have increasingly recognized the need to include community members in research efforts. In this reflective vignette, the importance of community engagement is realized through the researcher's ability to elicit and interpret an alternative story told by a respected local resident in a focus group. The focus group was part of a study examining communication between patients and clinicians about traditional medicine in New Mexico. During this session, yerba mansa, a plant used in traditional medicine, became a powerful cultural metaphor for expressing concerns about the intentions of outside researchers. This story shows how creating opportunities for sustained engagement with the people we serve can lead to more sensitive ways to establish research partnerships.