The Community Scientist program increased participants' familiarity with the role of a community scientist from 20% to 90% and their understanding of genomics and biobanking from <20% to 80%.
Observational (n=30)
Yes
Does a Community Scientist training program improve community members' knowledge, confidence, and engagement in research?
A scalable Community Scientist training program effectively empowers community members with the knowledge and confidence to partner with researchers and engage in the research process.
Absolute Event Rate: 90% vs 20%
Objectives/Goals: Incorporating community voice ensures that research meets real world needs and enhances community trust and engagement. The objective of this program is to train community members on research to become community scientists and strengthen their role as partners in research, advancing the translation of discoveries into community practice. Methods/Study Population: Based on the University of Florida Citizen Scientist model, Mayo Clinic launched a Community Scientist (CS) program in 2021 as a one-day event. It expanded to a 4-week program in 2022, an 8-week program with a 6-week experiential assignment in 2023−2024 and added asynchronous training in 2025. The CS curriculum integrates didactic and experiential assignments with pre/post evaluations implemented in 2023 and expanded in 2024 to include post evaluations for the 6-week experiential assignment. Participants represented three Mayo Clinic regions (Arizona, Florida, Midwest), reflecting different geographies and backgrounds. Evaluations assessed participants’ knowledge, confidence, and engagement in multiple topics such as genomics, ethics, biobanking, and researcher–community collaboration. Results/Anticipated Results: 30 CS participants completed training once evaluations were implemented, and the CS participants’ familiarity with the role of a community scientist increased from 20% to 90%. Understanding of genomics and biobanking increased from <20% to 80% and knowledge of research ethics and IRB processes increased from 30% to 75%. Participants agreed that the experiential assignment deepened their understanding (82%), confidence (80%), and ability (70%) to partner with researchers. High satisfaction scores (89%) from the CS participants supported the program’s value and 100% noted readiness to engage as a CS in research. Overall results demonstrate the program’s scalability and effectiveness while also noting the need for consistent evaluation for program improvement. Discussion/Significance of Impact: The CS program empowers communities with knowledge and confidence to engage with research teams, advocate locally and partner with investigators. Strong gains and consistent growth across domains highlight the CS program’s potential as a scalable model for meaningful community engagement in research.
Heendeniya et al. (Wed,) conducted a observational in Community engagement in research (n=30). Community Scientist program vs. Pre-training baseline was evaluated on Familiarity with the role of a community scientist. The Community Scientist program increased participants' familiarity with the role of a community scientist from 20% to 90% and their understanding of genomics and biobanking from <20% to 80%.