Culturally sensitive community engaged research with African American young women: lessons learned.

The use of culturally sensitive research approaches is of paramount importance in conducting community-engaged research with African American communities. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and use of culturally and community sensitive research methods in a study to understand social messages about pregnancy and childbearing among low-income urban African American adolescent girls. Key elements of this community accepted focused ethnography study are described, including study design, recruitment, data collection, and analysis techniques.