Integrating experimental-design principles into community-partnered participatory research on disseminating evidence-based depression care in underserved urban areas
*Thomas R. Belin, UCLA 
Elizabeth Dixon, QueensCare 
Andrea Jones, UCLA 
Felica Jones, UCLA 
Loretta Jones, Healthy African American Families II 
Judy Perlman, RAND Corporation 
Esmeralda Ramos, UCLA 
Susan E. Stockdale, UCLA Semel Institute Health Services Research Ctr 
Lingqi Tang, UCLA 
Kenneth B. Wells, UCLA 
Aziza Wright, UCLA 

Keywords: Community Partners in Care, randomization, depression, health services

Community Partners in Care (CPIC) is a collaborative research project seeking to reduce the burden of depression in vulnerable populations. Building on earlier evidence of the efficacy of "collaborative care" health-services interventions, the CPIC study uses a community partnered participatory research (CPPR) framework to compare two strategies for implementing evidence-based depression treatments with clients of primary-care clinics, social-service agencies, mental-health/substance-abuse agencies, faith-based organizations, or other community-trusted locations. The study design called for randomization of programs within agencies (or entire agencies) to either a more intensive "community engagement and planning" (CEP) intervention or a less intensive "resources for services" (RS) intervention. Core principles of a CPPR framework, including respect for diversity, openness, equality, redirected power, and an asset-based approach give rise to a need for careful attention to even the most basic steps in implementing a randomization protocol, one example being a collaborative approach that we took to produce seeds for the random number generator in the randomization program. The presentation will discuss this and other strategies that statisticians can use to engage with community-based organizations to advance shared research goals.