The increase in health disparities signifies the importance of employing an ethical approach to CBPR. This article provides background on various ethical issues in health promotion and education practices/projects, and then uses a CBPR project located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley as a case example to discuss “ethical issues such as the importance of increased community involvement in research, ensuring that communities benefit from the research, sharing leadership roles, and sensitive issues regarding data collection and sharing”. The researchers from this project worked with community members to develop a code of ethics to guide the intervention, which was comprised of six principles: respect, fiduciary transparency, fairness, informed consent: always voluntary; reciprocity; and equal voice and disclosure. The article discusses these principles and in conclusion advises practitioners to employ them in order to build develop trusting relationships, that can help reduce the potential for less-than-optimal outcomes and more likely develop into “meaningful and sustainable partnerships”.

Bastida, E.M. et al (2010). Ethics and community-based participatory research: Perspectives from the field. Health Promotion Practice, 11(1), 16-20.