ABSTRACT
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.
Subject(s)
Capacity Building , Community Networks , Underage Drinking/prevention & control , Adolescent , Child , Cooperative Behavior , Humans , Models, TheoreticalABSTRACT
Disparities in rates of firearm-related homicide exist for some segments of the population and by geographic area. There are interrelated factors across multiple social-ecological levels that increase the risk of violence for some individuals and groups, which may suggest the importance of comprehensive community intervention approaches for addressing violence. Participatory approaches can aid in the implementation of community interventions by engaging community and researcher partners in collaboratively addressing community-identified concerns. The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate the application of a participatory evaluation framework used to support the Aim4Peace Violence Prevention Project in Kansas City, Missouri. The study presents data from the second year of program implementation to examine the contributions of the program in addressing violence.
