{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T10:25:52Z","timestamp":1777890352706,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777593600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Health equity and the capacity to build it may be better achieved when the approaches of participatory practice and participant observation are more intentionally implemented together in applied, action research. An exploration of the literature compared results from a title and abstract search for the phrases participatory and participant observation. When searched for together, the number of articles that was retrieved was very low, flagging an issue worth consideration. A comparison of the approaches\u2019 historical development, theoretical foundations, and practical applications sheds light on their similarities and differences. Participatory practices lean on teaching community members how to conduct action research; plan and implement projects, and advocate for themselves. Participant observation leans on researchers and evaluators being taught about different communities through processes of immersion and deep reflection. Both have positive and negative connections to health equity, capacity building, empowerment, and engagement. Revisiting these approaches as separate strategies for learning provides an opportunity to adapt and reinvigorate their coordinated and robust use, which could lead to novel approaches to action research and more successful treatment of power-imbalances that thwart health equity. Such a revisitation should include consideration of action projects that conceptualize the approaches side by side, actual versus intended use of coordinated approaches, methods for more leveraging of health infrastructure and healthcare education; and potential new approaches to participant observation. Woven throughout this article are the author\u2019s perspectives and examples from 25\u202fyears of work on community-based, participatory action, ethnographic, and qualitative research, implementation, and evaluation projects.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1779809","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T05:36:00Z","timestamp":1777613760000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Participatory practices and participant observation together in action research: novel approaches to building capacity for health equity?"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Diana Campanella","family":"Schow","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community and Public Health, Idaho State University","place":["Pocatello, ID, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","year":"2026"},{"key":"ref2","volume-title":"Academic Impact","year":""},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"286","DOI":"10.1080\/26883597.2022.2113741","article-title":"Building social capital through nonprofit capacity building programs: the case of Omaha Community Foundation","volume":"3","author":"Bryan","year":"2022","journal-title":"Local Dev Soc"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"684","DOI":"10.1186\/S12889-018-5591-6","article-title":"Effectiveness of capacity building interventions relevant to public health practice: a systematic review","volume":"18","author":"Decorby-Watson","year":"2018","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/j.evalprogplan.2018.04.014","article-title":"A conceptual framework for evaluating health equity promotion within community-based participatory research partnerships","volume":"70","author":"Ward","year":"2018","journal-title":"Eval Program Plann"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.47061\/JASC.V4I1.7068","article-title":"Harnessing dialogue as a social Technology for Systems Change in development institutions","volume":"4","author":"Robele","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Awareness-Based Syst Change"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"389","DOI":"10.1177\/1476750304047982","article-title":"Building capacity in community health action research: towards a praxis framework for graduate education","volume":"2","author":"Nelson","year":"2004","journal-title":"Action Res"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1617711","DOI":"10.3389\/FPUBH.2025.1617711","article-title":"Forging partnerships for health equity research: transformative capacity-building for community-academic teams","volume":"13","author":"Valdez","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"102032","DOI":"10.1016\/J.OUTLOOK.2023.102032","article-title":"Health equity: a concept analysis","volume":"71","author":"Lewis","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nurs Outlook"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"741","DOI":"10.1177\/1524839920950730","article-title":"The health equity framework: a science- and justice-based model for public health researchers and practitioners","volume":"22","author":"Peterson","year":"2021","journal-title":"Health Promot Pract"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.1080\/17448689.2016.1216383","article-title":"The participatory democracy turn: an introduction","volume":"12","author":"Bherer","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Civ Soc"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118924396.WBIEA1357","article-title":"Participant observation","author":"Eramian","year":"2018","journal-title":"Inte Encycl Anthropol"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.17169\/FQS-13.1.1793","article-title":"Opening up for many voices in knowledge construction","volume":"13","author":"Borg","year":"2012","journal-title":"Forum Qual Soc Res"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"324","DOI":"10.1177\/104973200129118471","article-title":"Participative observation: standing in the shoes of others?","volume":"10","author":"Savage","year":"2000","journal-title":"Qual Health Res"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1891\/CN-2021-0021","article-title":"The utility of participatory action research in the nursing field: a scoping review","volume":"28","author":"Effendy","year":"2022","journal-title":"Creat Nurs"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"611","DOI":"10.1080\/09650792.2023.2252212","article-title":"Participatory and critical action research","volume":"31","author":"Feldman","year":"2023","journal-title":"Educational Action Research"},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-4560-67-2","volume-title":"The Action Research Planner: Doing Critical Participatory Action Research","author":"Kemmis","year":"2014"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"230","DOI":"10.1177\/0017896912438313","article-title":"Moving forward in childhood obesity treatment: a call for translational research","volume":"72","author":"Watson","year":"2013","journal-title":"Health Educ J"},{"key":"ref19","first-page":"290","article-title":"Reflections on use of participatory methods in the capacity building program for tribal community health volunteers","volume":"27","author":"John","year":"2015","journal-title":"Indian J Community Health"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1477","DOI":"10.1080\/13676261.2023.2226082","article-title":"\u201cSitting there and listening was one of the most important lessons I had to learn\u201d: critical capacity building in youth participatory action research","volume":"27","author":"Luguetti","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Youth Stud"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"207","DOI":"10.1016\/J.WORLDDEV.2018.01.024","article-title":"Gender and capacity building: a multi-layered study of empowerment","volume":"106","author":"Eger","year":"2018","journal-title":"World Dev"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.5430\/JNEP.V5N10P1","article-title":"Building research capacity in Malawian nursing education\u2014a key to development and change","volume":"5","author":"Tveit","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Nurs Educ Pract"},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1079\/9780851999968.0063","volume-title":"Tourism Research Methods: Integrating Theory with Practice","author":"Cole","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1177\/1525822X231198989","article-title":"Community-based participant-observation (CBPO): a participatory method for ethnographic research","volume":"36","author":"Roque","year":"2024","journal-title":"Field Methods"},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1177\/1609406919891","article-title":"Using participant observation to enable critical understandings of disability in later life: an illustration conducted with older adults with low vision","volume":"18","author":"McGrath","year":"2019","journal-title":"Int J Qual Methods"},{"key":"ref26","first-page":"31","volume-title":"Community-Based Participatory Research for Health: Advancing Social and Health Equity","author":"Wallerstein","year":"2017"},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"893898","DOI":"10.3389\/FSOC.2023.893898","article-title":"The theory of integrated empowerment in the transition to adulthood: concepts and measures","volume":"8","author":"Mouchrek","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Sociol"},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1080\/0965079930010102","article-title":"Kurt Lewin and the origins of action research","volume":"1","author":"Adelman","year":"1993","journal-title":"Educ Action Res"},{"key":"ref29","volume-title":"Pedagogy of the Oppressed Revised edition","author":"Freire","year":"1996"},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"154","DOI":"10.1080\/09687637.2024.2311835","article-title":"a qualitative exploration of the relevance of training provision in planning for implementation of managed alcohol programs within a third sector setting","volume":"32","author":"Masterton","year":"2025","journal-title":"Drugs"},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"335","DOI":"10.21608\/mnj.2022.295591","article-title":"Applying Lewin\u2019s change management theory to improve patient\u2019s discharge plan","volume":"9","author":"Ahmed","year":"2022","journal-title":"Mansoura Nursing Journal"},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"E36","DOI":"10.1001\/amajethics.2024.36","article-title":"Using critical pedagogy to advance antiracism in health professions education","volume":"26","author":"Onuoha","year":"2024","journal-title":"AMA J Ethics"},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e20220333","DOI":"10.1590\/1980-265X-TCE-2022-0333EN","article-title":"Potentialities and challenges for Care in the Primary Health Care Context","volume":"32","author":"Heidemann","year":"2023","journal-title":"Texto Contexto Enferm"},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101139","DOI":"10.1016\/J.SFTR.2025.101139","article-title":"Impact of community-based participatory research on capacity building: findings from a household and ambient air project","volume":"10","author":"Phillip","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sustainable Futures"},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"117491","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2024.117491","article-title":"Effectiveness of community-based participatory research (CBPR) interventions on mental health outcomes: a systematic review","volume":"363","author":"Yau","year":"2024","journal-title":"Soc Sci Med"},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"212","DOI":"10.1007\/S40471-022-00298-5","article-title":"Community-based participatory research to improve cardiovascular health among US racial and ethnic minority groups","volume":"9","author":"Haynes","year":"2022","journal-title":"Curr Epidemiol Rep"},{"key":"ref37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"38","DOI":"10.1016\/J.PUHE.2024.04.010","article-title":"Electronic health record reveals community-level cardiometabolic health benefits associated with 10 years of community-based participatory research","volume":"232","author":"Buchanan","year":"2024","journal-title":"Public Health"},{"key":"ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.54656\/KNLY2123","article-title":"Building capacity to improve Latino health in rural North Carolina: a case study in community-university engagement","volume":"5","author":"Larson","year":"2012","journal-title":"J Community Engagem Scholarsh"},{"key":"ref39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2037","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-021-12076-x","article-title":"Wheel of wellbeing (WoW) health promotion program: Australian participants report on their experiences and impacts","volume":"21","author":"Spain","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1300\/J013v43n04_06","article-title":"Using participatory research to build an effective type 2 diabetes intervention: the process of advocacy among female Hispanic farmworkers and their families in Southeast Idaho","volume":"43","author":"Cartwright","year":"2006","journal-title":"Womens Health"},{"key":"ref41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1300\/J013v43n04_04","article-title":"The culture of domestic violence advocacy: values of equality\/behaviors of control. Womens health","volume":"43","author":"Schow","year":"2006","journal-title":"Women Health"},{"key":"ref42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1177\/21501319211072998","article-title":"Use of a research as intervention approach to explore Telebehavioral health services during the COVID-19 pandemic in southeastern Idaho","volume":"13","author":"Schow","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Prim Care Community Health"},{"key":"ref43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1111\/napa.12219","article-title":"An audacious approach to incorporating students into the ethnographic research process","volume":"48","author":"Schow","year":"2024","journal-title":"Ann Anthropol Pract"},{"key":"ref44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"118556","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2025.118556","article-title":"A scoping review of community participation in public health research and action during the COVID-19 pandemic: exploring approaches on the continuum between utilitarianism and empowerment","volume":"385","author":"Frahsa","year":"2025","journal-title":"Soc Sci Med"},{"key":"ref45","first-page":"746","volume-title":"The Sexual Life of Savages in North-western Melanesia: An Ethnographic Account of Courtship, Marriage and Family Life among the Natives of the Trobriand Islands, British New Guinea","author":"Malinowski","year":"1929"},{"key":"ref46","first-page":"295","volume-title":"Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation","author":"Mead","year":"1928"},{"key":"ref47","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref48","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1111\/traa.12222","article-title":"The racist anti-racism of American anthropology","volume":"29","author":"Baker","year":"2021","journal-title":"Transform Anthropol"},{"key":"ref50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"778","DOI":"10.1111\/aman.13775","article-title":"Decolonizing US anthropology","volume":"124","author":"Gupta","year":"2022","journal-title":"Am Anthropol"},{"key":"ref51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"100158","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cresp.2023.100158","article-title":"Trickle-down racism: trump\u2019s effect on whites\u2019 racist dehumanizing attitudes","volume":"5","author":"Jardina","year":"2023","journal-title":"Curr Res Ecol Soc Psychol"},{"key":"ref52","first-page":"199","volume-title":"Emptying Beds: The Work of an Emergency Psychiatric Unit","author":"Rhodes","year":"1995"},{"key":"ref53","first-page":"538","volume-title":"Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Mman: A Study in Terror and Healing","author":"Taussig","year":"1991"},{"key":"ref54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"638","DOI":"10.1111\/ruso.12559","article-title":"Shared ideals, but persistent barriers: improving tribal-university research engagement to strengthen native nation building and rural development","volume":"89","author":"Herkshan","year":"2024","journal-title":"Rural Sociol"},{"key":"ref55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1177\/16094069241270397","article-title":"Bringing an Equity Lens to participant observation in critical ethnographic Health Research","volume":"23","author":"Horrill","year":"2024","journal-title":"Int J Qual Methods"},{"key":"ref56","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.1177\/0049124120986","article-title":"Participant observation, observant participation, and hybrid ethnography","volume":"1","author":"Seim","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sociol Methods Res"},{"key":"ref57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"336","DOI":"10.1525\/9780520946286","volume-title":"Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography Berkeley","author":"Clifford","year":"1986"},{"key":"ref58","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"884","DOI":"10.1037\/amp0000167","article-title":"Community-based participatory research (CBPR): towards equitable involvement of Community in Psychology Research","volume":"73","author":"Collins","year":"2018","journal-title":"Am Psychol"},{"key":"ref59","volume-title":"Capacity Building in Physical Activity Promoting Organizations. A Qualitative Assessment of change in a European Union Funded Implementation project [Doctoral Dissertation]","author":"Schow","year":"2017"},{"key":"ref60","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.1177\/1049732315617480","article-title":"Anthropological perspectives on participation in CBPR: insights from the Water project, Maras","volume":"26","author":"Cartwright","year":"2016","journal-title":"Peru Qual Health Res"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1779809\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T05:36:04Z","timestamp":1777613764000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1779809\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]]},"references-count":60,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1779809"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1779809","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]]},"article-number":"1779809"}}