In this work, we examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on a community-based research project. This clinical trial investigates whether increased neighborhood greenness lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease through reduction of air pollution. Facilitating the project involves considerable community engagement (e.g., an active community advisory board, participation in neighborhood association meetings, collaborations with schools and other organizations, presentations, health education sessions, to name but a few activities), and the project relies on successful collaboration across a large, multidisciplinary research team. As concerns surrounding SARS-CoV-2 increased, adjustments to our research timeline and activities were needed. When cases of COVID-19 escalated, many U.S. clinical trials were halted. While some facets of the project have resumed, most areas involving community work have not returned to face-to-face interaction.

Across the months of halted progress and altered interaction, our research team has simultaneously experienced both frustration and relief. In this analysis, we employ a dialectical approach to examine the competing tensions evidenced in community research work during the pandemic. From the vantage point of dialectical theory, competing feelings can occur simultaneously and influence our views and actions. In particular, we examine concurrent experiences of dissatisfaction-satisfaction, need for progress-need for safety, desires to engage-needs to separate, and wishes to share updates-uncertainty on future specifics. This analysis considers the months our community engagement efforts have been affected by the pandemic (March 2020-December 2020), the associated dialectical tensions, and the means of reconciling some tensions and wrestling with others.