Signi®cant elements of community involvement in participatory action research: evidence from a community project Elizabeth Lindsey RN PhD Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Liza McGuinness BA MA Research Assistant, School of Nursing, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Accepted for publication 10 November 1997 LINDSEY LINDSEY E. & E. & MCGUINESS MCGUINESS L. L. (1998) Journal of Advanced Nursing 28(5), 1106±1114 Signi®cant elements of community involvement in participatory action research: evidence from a community project Participatory action research (PAR) has been heralded as an important research methodology to address issues of research relevance, community involvement, democracy, emancipation and liberation. Increasingly, nurse researchers are turning to PAR as a method of choice. Although nursing interest in PAR is expanding little is known about how to successfully involve the community in research. This article attends to this dearth of information by presenting the results of a study investigating the signi®cant elements of community involve- ment in PAR. Through the use of qualitative research methods, ®ve themes emerged that describe the community participation process: (a) planning for participation, (b) the structural components of community participation, (c) living the philosophy, (d) enhancing the credibility, and (e) the type of leadership required to facilitate community participation. It is hoped that by sharing these results others may consider the knowledge gleaned from this project as they plan and proceed with the challenges and rewards inherent in PAR. Keywords: community participation, community involvement, participatory action research, nursing research INTRODUCTION In recent years, research strategies that require community engagement and participation in the research process are gaining greater respectability and attention (Cornwall & Jewkes 1995). Participatory action research (PAR) has been heralded as an important research methodology to address issues of research relevance, community involve- ment, democracy, emancipation, and liberation (Maguire 1987, Allen 1990, Lather 1991, Henderson 1995, Wilson- Thomas 1995). In this sense, PAR is a way of creating knowledge to effect necessary action and change (Corn- wall & Jewkes 1995). The major difference between empirical-analytical research and PAR is that in the latter, the people on whose behalf the investigation-action cycle is carried out get directly involved in the research process, from problem formulation, to inquiry, to action (Park 1992). As such, PAR is a social action process that focuses on empowerment (Hall 1992). A fundamental assumption underlying PAR is that knowledge is related to power, and that power is related to change (Couto 1987, Hall 1992, Henderson 1995). Correspondence: Elizabeth Lindsey, School of Nursing, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1998, 28(5), 1106±1114 Methodological issues in nursing research 1106 Ó 1998 Blackwell Science Ltd