While community-based participatory research (CBPR) and other related participatory action research approaches are increasingly being used in nursing research, few of these studies are conceptualized within an extant nursing framework. Instead, CBPR is typically only grounded in socio-ecological and social justice frameworks. However, knowledge is developed in a discipline through research that is conceptualized within the discipline's conceptual systems, frameworks, or theories. This article begins with an explication of the processes and theoretical foundations of CBPR and concludes by offering Falk-Rafael's Critical Caring Theory (CCT) as an ideal theory for reframing CBPR within a nursing science perspective.
Keywords: community-based participatory research; critical caring theory; nursing theory-based research.