Abstract for: Developing reporting guidelines for community engagement in system dynamics projects on equity issues.

Stakeholder engagement is a critical part of system dynamics (SD). SD modelling must be transparent, trustworthy and have community buy-in to lead to action. Efforts have been proposed to increase transparency in reporting SD modelling, but there are no existing reporting guidelines on partnering with community. Such guidelines would be beneficial given the growing number of SD projects working with community, often where there is an equity issue or power differential. Guidelines could also support the increasing numbers of new and diverse practitioners within community engaged projects in publishing papers. Modeler reflexivity (examination of one’s one beliefs, judgments, and identities and their effects on the modelling process) or lack of is a concern because without reflexivity modeler bias might be integrated into the models in harmful ways. Existing reporting guidelines on CBPR, qualitative research, and research across power differences can inform meaningful community engaged projects reporting guidelines. Potential next steps for this project include identifying SD community members who are interested in furthering this conversation, reviewing existing qualitative guidelines that may be relevant, reviewing how community work is reported in existing SD work, and developing and iterating on draft guidelines.