Transferring knowledge about human subjects protections and the role of institutional review boards in a community-based participatory research project.

Among the first tasks in a collaboration between Tufts University and community organizations in Somerville, MA, was designing an interview instrument to assess occupational health needs among immigrant workers. Human subjects protections was a critical issue, but community partners were not well informed about the need for such protections or the role of the institutional review board (IRB). During research meetings, members of the team from Tufts trained community collaborators to work with research participants and organized a presentation by a key university IRB administrator. We present findings from the process evaluation of this project and suggest ways to (1) assess community partners' understanding about working with research volunteers, (2) train collaborators, and (3) involve IRBs.