A framework for community outreach and engagement at an NCI designated comprehensive cancer center narrative review and institutional application

Abstract

Patient and community engagement in research is essential in bridging the gap between scientific discovery and cancer care. The University of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC) Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) seeks to identify community needs, communicate them across the entire center, and catalyze activities within the center’s catchment area (CA). This paper aims to evaluate existing frameworks, identify those appropriate for applying to our programs, and map the selected framework(s) to our institution. The authors conducted a narrative review of the literature using PubMed and Google Scholar to find existing frameworks for patient and community engagement in cancer research. The authors identified three potential frameworks for consideration and selected one of these to evaluate KUCC’s efforts and map programmatic activities against it. The mapping exercise evaluates KUCC patient and community involvement using the six foundational expectations of the PCORI framework and assesses the development of multi-level patient engagement over the timeframe of the study. KUCC is working continuously to create partnerships between researchers, patients, and the community to enhance research impact. Based on this and other work, KUCC is seeking to expand programming to a multi-level patient, researcher, institutional, and community engagement framework.