Community-based participatory research and the challenges of qualitative analysis enacted by lay, nurse, and academic researchers.

There are multiple challenges in adhering to the principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), especially when there is a wide range of academic preparation within the research team. This is particularly evident in the analysis phase of qualitative research. We describe the process of conducting qualitative analysis of data on community perceptions of public maternity care in the Dominican Republic, in a cross-cultural, CBPR study.

A community-based participatory research approach to explore community perceptions of the quality of maternal-newborn health services in the Dominican Republic.

Objective: to understand both men's and women's beliefs and attitudes regarding public maternity and newborn services, care and quality.

Design: qualitative, cross-sectional, retrospective study with an observation arm, using community-based participatory research as both the mechanism of enquiry and catalyst for change.

Setting: four urban neighbourhoods in the Dominican Republic, selected in collaboration with the Provincial Medical Public Health Director and the partnering local public hospital.