When is research participatory? Reflections on a reproductive health project in Brazil

This article addresses women's participation in an organization development project designed to improve public sector family planning and reproductive health services in Brazil. Although community women collaborated in aspect s of the intervention and research, the project nonetheless raises the basi c question whether such involvement of community women does or does not cor respond to what scientific writers consider to be the essence of participat ory research. We review key project features in the context of recent liter ature and conclude that although the project is committed to the sharing of power and control, it does not fully correspond to the characteristics of participatory research. Moreover, we argue that given the project's central focus on reproductive health outcomes, complete adherence to the process-o riented, pure version of participatory research would have been inappropria te.