Premium
Improving community readiness for change through coalition capacity building: Evidence from a multisite intervention
Author(s) -
AndersonCarpenter Kaston D.,
WatsonThompson Jomella,
Jones Marvia D.,
Chaney Lisa
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.21860
Subject(s) - capacity building , intervention (counseling) , public relations , psychology , business , political science , law , psychiatry
Often, community coalitions are facilitators of community‐level changes when addressing underage drinking. Although studies have shown that enhancing coalition capacity is related to improved internal functioning, the relationship between enhanced capacity and community readiness for change is not well established. The present study used a pretest–posttest design to examine whether enhancing coalition capacity through training and technical assistance was associated with improved community readiness and coalition‐facilitated community‐level changes. Seven Kansas communities engaged in an intensive capacity building intervention through implementation of the Strategic Prevention Framework. The results indicated strong correlations between increased coalition capacity, changes in community readiness stages, and the number of community changes facilitated. The results suggest that strengthening coalition capacity through training and technical assistance may improve community readiness for change and enable the implementation of community‐wide program and environmental changes.