BACKGROUND: North America continues to contend with an unregulated drug crisis that is impacting communities of all sizes. Community-based participatory research that meaningfully engages people who use drugs, families, and their wider communities is one way of advancing social justice and improving population health. As more community-academic partnerships are formed in this space, some organizations have launched guidelines and considerations for engaging in community-based participatory research (CBPR). However, to our knowledge, none provide guidance for engaging in CBPR with people who use drugs and their families in rural settings.

MAIN BODY: This paper presents insights gained from our experiences collaborating to conduct CBPR with families providing unpaid support for people who use drugs in rural Canada. Key considerations are thematically organized in four sections: Dreaming (Building the team and setting a vision), Designing (Key definitions, budget and ethical consideration), Doing (Bringing research to life), and Disseminating (Moving research into action).

CONCLUSIONS: By building on existing principles and guidelines for working with PWUD and their families, these considerations will be a valuable resource for other partnerships seeking to engage in community-based participatory substance use research in rural settings.