The purpose of the Reproductive Health Experiences and Access (RHEA) community advisory board (CAB) is to ensure that communities' opinions, insights, and experiences are centered in everything the RHEA project does.
CAB members are asked to work alongside the RHEA researchers to provide their thoughts and opinions, ask questions, and engage in discussion about different phases of the research, from recruiting members to sharing study results.
CAB members come from diverse backgrounds and represent communities across the US. We ask members to commit to a six-month or one-year renewable term with the expectation that they will come to each meeting fully prepared to engage in this participatory process.
How CAB Members Contribute and Benefit
CAB members can contribute to and benefit from the project in the following ways.
CAB members’ input supports policy and systems change. The study findings are meant to inform the creation of effective reproductive health and abortion policies and to support successful initiatives at the local and national levels that benefit women, girls, and all who can become pregnant. CAB members help the research team produce high-quality, community-informed research for policymakers. Members also provide detailed feedback on research materials and contribute their lived experience and knowledge of the reproductive health landscape in their state to discussions about the research.
CAB members play a large role in disseminating findings to communities across the US. At this project's conclusion, we aim to share the survey results and qualitative interviews with various audiences. This will be accomplished through poster and conference presentations, infographics, journal articles, and survey briefs, among other products. The CAB helps shape strategies for sharing results in relevant, informative ways and helps the research team reach communities across the country in inclusive and accessible ways. Members are also asked to share findings within their own organizations and communities.
CAB members will be offered relevant trainings in both research-related skills and content expertise. We aim to provide CAB members with trainings on key skills that are the most relevant to service on the CAB, and members may benefit by gaining knowledge and expertise that support their own reproductive justice and health advocacy and activism. Though trainings focus on research design and data interpretation, reproductive justice, communicating study results, and giving and receiving feedback, we can offer additional trainings on topics the CAB identifies and will work with members to codevelop resources.
Shared Decisionmaking
We value the time, effort, and feedback that CAB members contribute to the research and commit to a highly collaborative process that we hope will benefit both the CAB members and the research team. The research team makes every effort to incorporate CAB members’ feedback. However, if it is not possible to incorporate significant feedback from the CAB into the research, the research team is responsible for explaining why the feedback was not included.
How to Join the CAB
The open call for applications is currently closed.
We plan to periodically recruit and accept applications for open CAB positions as they become available. When a member finishes their term, we will seek to recruit a new member from the same state.
Questions?
Please email any questions about the CAB to [email protected].
