Call for Papers - Community Engagement: Models and Effectiveness

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defined the term Community engagement (CE) as "the process of working collaboratively with groups of people who are affiliated by geographic proximity, special interests or similar situations with respect to issues affecting their well-being". The CDC describes CE as a process extending from reaching out to community members (Outreach), to consulting with them (Consultation), to collaborating to develop shared goals and implement activities to address community needs (Collaboration). The concept is based on the assumption that active participation by community residents in the process of improving health and social outcomes will lead to an empowered community, and long-term health and social improvements. Terms often used interchangeably include community participation, empowerment, or collaboration. However, the literature lacks consensus on methods, best practices, and measurable outcomes for community engagement.

The purpose of this research topic is to showcase work in community engagement relevant to delivering community health promotion interventions and improving the health of the public across the globe. We are looking for papers exploring: the concept of community engagement; innovative and/or best practice models and methods; and measures of effectiveness. This work can help inform the public/community health communities at all levels of economic development on how to work to most effectively engage communities in identifying and addressing their chief health concerns.

We are looking for papers defining the concept of community engagement in the context of current public health and health equity challenges in various countries and communities across the world. We encourage papers describing new models or methods of engaging communities, or identifying best practices in community engagement based on current work. Lastly, we want articles proposing or documenting measures of the effectiveness of community engagement methods across countries, political systems, and cultures. Community engagement methods are a topic of great importance to health improvement for low, middle, and high-income countries, and are of interest to those in public health research as well as those in practice. We intend this collection to be the current state of the concept, and to be useful for practitioners and researchers across the globe.