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Community Advisory Board

PICCK’s Community Advisory Board (CAB)

PICCK’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) was created to strengthen the program’s activities by providing guidance to the core team, proposing innovative avenues for addressing gaps in contraceptive care and access, ensuring sustainability, and amplifying the diverse voices of Massachusetts residents receiving such care. PICCK recognized that patients and community stakeholders hold unique expertise in their own lives and needs. This expertise supplemented the clinical, programmatic, and research expertise of our core team. Specifically, the CAB provided input on the following issues: 

  1. Highlighted issues critical to patients and community that may not have occurred to project leads or collaborating hospitals; 
  2. Assessed whether specific components of intervention activities may have unintended consequences for patients or the community (e.g., sowing distrust); 
  3. Answered targeted questions that arose during implementation and which required the CAB’s unique expertise; 
  4. Suggested additional sources of community expertise for particular hospitals and their communities (e.g. local religious leaders, community organizations);
  5. Provided input on additional information-gathering, research, or evaluation activities (e.g., what domains should be covered in needs assessments, patient surveys);
  6. Participated in additional opportunities to help facilitate hospital trainings with clinical consultants

Over the course of PICCK’s five years, 24 community members from across Massachusetts participated in the CAB. In addition to attending and providing valuable feedback at regular meetings, 10 CAB members presented as part of 17 training presentations, include during shared-decision-making programming at partner sites, during our Annual Meetings, and in our monthly webinar series. CAB members also played integral roles in the development of PICCK’s Decision Aid and Method Information Sheets, What’s Important: A Patient-Centered Approach to Contraceptive Counseling e-learning course, Media Inclusivity Service, and COVID-19 response. Multiple CAB members will also serve as co-authors on forthcoming publications.

We are immensely grateful for the contributions of PICCK’s CAB and are excited to share lessons learned with clinicians, researchers, public health practitioners, and sexual and reproductive health professionals in the future!

New Community Advisory Board (CAB) Opportunity

Beginning in 2024, PICCK is partnering with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and the Massachusetts Sexual and Reproductive Health Training Center (MASRHTC) to convene a new Community Advisory Board (CAB) to provide guidance and support to MDPH and the MASRHTC. CAB members will weigh in on sexual and reproductive health topics such as:

  • the agenda for a statewide conference of sexual and reproductive healthcare providers
  • advising on standards DPH should follow when approving patient-facing materials for health centers in the state
  • raising concerns about contraceptive access in the state

Participating in the CAB is an incredible opportunity to influences choices about reproductive health in Massachusetts, and CAB members will be able to decide which projects and issues they’d like to weigh in on. Participation will be online via Zoom meetings, surveys, and special projects. CAB members will be compensated at $50/hour and have the opportunity to engage 1-4 hours per month.

To participate, you must meet all of the following criteria:

  • be interested in advising MDPH’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Training Center and impacting what health care looks like in the state
  • live in Massachusetts
  • be 18 years or older
  • NOT be a health care clinician
  • have a computer, tablet, or phone that lets you join Zoom video calls

To learn more about participating in our Community Advisory Board, click the button below!