Abstract
In this paper, we address the assessment of community readiness (CR) for the prevention of child maltreatment in the context of a community survey. A mail survey was administered to 222 service providers and 54 supervisors and managers from 35 different organizations serving children and their families in four Canadian communities. Eleven items from the short version of the Readiness Assessment for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment (RAP-CM) were used, in combination with questions assessing knowledge of family support programs offered in the community and a measure of inter-agency collaboration. Findings show that a consistent and valid indicator of “Lack of knowledge of the environment” can be derived from the RAP-CM items and used for screening key informants. Overall, CR appears mixed in the communities studied, the weakest dimensions of which are the will to address the problem and the dynamism of informal social resources. Leadership emerges as a major gap that needs to be addressed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aboud, F., Huq, N. L., Larson, C. P., & Ottisova, L. (2010). An assessment of community readiness for HIV/AIDS preventive interventions in rural Bangladesh. Social Science and Medicine,70(3), 360–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.10.011.
Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development. (s.d.). The Triple P System. Retrieved 2020-04-01 from https://www.blueprintsprograms.org/programs/463999999/triple-p-system/.
Borrayo, E. A. (2007). Using a community readiness model to help overcome breast health disparities among US Latinas. Substance Use and Misuse,42, 603–619. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826080701202205.
Chilenski, S. M., Greenberg, M. T., & Feinberg, M. E. (2007). Community readiness as a multidimensional construct. Journal of Community Psychology,35, 347–368. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20152.
Cormier, N. (2006). L’initiative 1,2,3 GO! pour tout-petits: Analyse d’impacts sur le partenariat perçu et activé par des intervenants (Thèse de doctorat). Montréal: UQÀM.
Delawarde-Saïas, C., Gagné, M.-H., Brunson, L., & Drapeau, S. (2018). Implementing a multilevel prevention strategy under an intersectoral partnership: The case of the Triple P Program. Children and Youth Services Review,88, 170–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.009.
Findholt, N. (2007). Application of the community readiness model for childhood obesity prevention. Public Health Nursing,24, 565–570. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1446.2007.00669.x.
Flashpohler, P., Duffy, J., Wandersman, A., Stillman, L., & Maras, M. A. (2008). Unpacking prevention capacity: An intersection of research-to-practice models and community-centered models. American Journal of Community Psychology,41, 182–196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-008-9162-3.
Frerichs, L., Brittin, J., Robbins, R., Steenson, S., Stewart, C., Fisher, C., et al. (2015). SaludABLEOmaha: Improving readiness to address obesity through healthy lifestyle in a Midwestern Latino community, 2011–2013. Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd12.140328.
Gadermann, A. M., Guhn, M., & Zumbo, B. D. (2012). Estimating ordinal reliability for Likert-type and ordinal item response data: A conceptual, empirical, and practical guide. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation. https://doi.org/10.7275/n560-j767.
Gilbert, R., Spatz Widom, C., Browne, K., Fergusson, D., Webb, E., & Janson, S. (2009). Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries. The Lancet,373, 68–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61706-7.
Goodman, R. M., Speers, M. A., Mcleroy, K., Fawcett, S., Kegler, M., Parker, E., et al. (1998). Identifying and defining the dimensions of community capacity to provide a basis for measurement. Health Education and Behavior,25, 258–278. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019819802500303.
Hemenway, D. (2010). Why we don’t spend enough on public health. The New England Journal of Medicine,362, 1657–1658. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1001784.
Kostadinov, I., Daniel, M., Jones, M., & Cargo, M. (2016). Assessing change in perceived community leadership readiness in the obesity prevention and lifestyle program. Journal of the Australian Health Promotion Association,27, 208–214. https://doi.org/10.1071/HE16050.
Kostadinov, I., Daniel, M., Stanley, L., Gancia, A., & Cargo, M. (2015). A systematic review of community readiness tool applications: Implications for reporting. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,12, 3453–3468. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120403453.
Krug, E. G., Dahlberg, L. L., Mercy, J. A., Zwi, A. B., & Lozano-Ascencio, R. (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva, Suisse: World Health Organization. Retrieved 2020-04-16 from: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/full_en.pdf.
Labonte, R., & Laverack, G. (2001). Capacity building in health promotion, Part 1: For whom? And for what purpose? Critical Public Health,11, 111–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581590110039838.
Maguire, S. A., Williams, B., Naughton, A. M., Cowley, L. E., Tempest, V., Mann, M. K., et al. (2015). A systematic review of the emotional, behavioural and cognitive features exhibited by school-aged children experiencing neglect or emotional abuse. Child: Care, Health and Development,41, 641–653. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12227.
Marrast, L., Himmelstein, D. U., & Woolhandler, S. (2016). Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care for children and young adults: A National Study. International Journal of Health Services: Planning, Administration, Evaluation,46, 810–824. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020731416662736.
Meyers, D. C., Durlak, J. A., & Wandersman, A. (2012). The quality implementation framework: A synthesis of critical steps in the implementation process. American Journal of Community Psychology,50, 462–480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-012-9522-x.
Mikton, C., Mehra, R., Butchart, A., Addiss, D., Almuneef, M., Cardia, N., et al. (2011). A multidimensional model for child maltreatment prevention readiness in low and middle income countries. Journal of Community Psychology,39, 826–843. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20474.
Mikton, C., Power, M., Raleva, M., Makoae, M., Al-Eissa, M., Cheah, I., et al. (2013). The assessment of the readiness of five countries to implement child maltreatment prevention programs on a large scale. Child Abuse and Neglect,37, 1237–1251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.07.009.
Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux. (2004, 2019). Les services intégrés en périnatalité et pour la petite enfance à l’intention des familles vivant en contexte de vulnérabilité. Québec. Qc: Gouvernement du Québec. Retrieved 2020-04-16 from: https://publications.msss.gouv.qc.ca/msss/document-000992/.
Nelson, G., & Caplan, R. (2014). The prevention of child physical abuse and neglect: An update. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 5(1), 1–49. Retrieved 2020-04-16 from http://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/childrenatrisk/vol5/iss1/3.
Norman, R. E., Byambaa, M., De, R., Butchart, A., Scott, J., & Vos, T. (2012). The long-term health consequences of child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001349.
Oetting, E. R., Donnermeyer, J. F., Plested, B. A., Edwards, R. W., Kelly, K., & Beauvais, F. (1995). Assessing community readiness for prevention. International Journal of the Addictions,30, 659–683. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826089509048752.
Ogilvie, K., Moore, R., Ogilvie, D., Johnson, K., Collins, D., & Shamblen, S. (2008). Changing community readiness to prevent the abuse of inhalants and other harmful legal products in Alaska. Journal of Community Health,33(4), 248–258. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-008-9087-7.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (s.d.). OECD Better Life Index. Retrieved 2020-04-16 from http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/.
Payne, G., & Payne, J. (2004). Key informants. In G. Payne & J. Payne (Eds.), Sage key concepts: Key concepts in social research (pp. 135–138). London: SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849209397.
Peercy, M., Gray, J., Thurman, P. J., & Plested, B. (2010). Community readiness: An effective model for tribal engagement in prevention of cardiovascular disease. Family and Community Health: The Journal of Health Promotion and Maintenance,33, 238–247. https://doi.org/10.1097/FCH.0b013e3181e4bca9.
Plested, B. A., Edwards, R. W., & Jumper-Thurman, P. (2006). Community readiness: A handbook for successful change. Retrieved 2020-04-16 from: https://www.ndhealth.gov/injury/ND_Prevention_Tool_Kit/docs/Community_Readiness_Handbook.pdf.
Poole, M. K., Seal, D. W., & Taylor, C. A. (2014). A systematic review of universal campaigns targeting child physical abuse prevention. Health Education Research,29, 388–432. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyu012.
Prinz, R. J., Sanders, M. R., Shapiro, C. J., Whitaker, D. J., & Lutzker, J. R. (2009). Population-based prevention of child maltreatment: The US Triple P system population trial. Prevention Science,10, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-009-0123-3.
Sanders, M. R. (1999). Triple P-Positive Parenting Program: Towards an empirically validated multilevel parenting and family support strategy for the prevention of behavior and emotional problems in children. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review,2, 71–90. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021843613840.
Sanders, M. R., Cann, W., & Markie-Dadds, C. (2003). The Triple P-Positive Parenting Programme: A universal population-level approach to the prevention of child abuse. Child Abuse Review,12, 155–171. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.798.
Slater, M. D., Edwards, R. W., Plested, B. A., Thurman, P. J., Kelly, K. J., Comello, M. L. G., et al. (2005). Using community readiness key informant assessments in a randomized group prevention trial: Impact of a participatory community-media intervention. Journal of Community Health,30(1), 39–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-004-6094-1.
Spoth, R., Greenberg, M., Bierman, K., & Redmond, C. (2004). PROSPER Community–University partnership model for public education systems: Capacity-building for evidence-based, competence-building prevention. Prevention Science,5, 31–39. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:PREV.0000013979.52796.8b.
Stallones, L., Gibbs-Long, J., Gabella, B., & Kakefuda, I. (2008). Community readiness and prevention of traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury,22(7–8), 555–564. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699050802132487.
Thomas, F. (2018). Disposition à agir des communautés en prévention de la maltraitance envers les enfants [Community readiness for the prevention of child maltreatment]. Université Laval: Unpublished document.
Watson-Thompson, J., Woods, N. K., Schober, D. J., & Schultz, J. A. (2013). Enhancing the capacity of substance abuse prevention coalitions through training and technical assistance. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community,41(3), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852352.2013.788345.
World Bank. (s.d.). Data—World Bank Country and Lending Groups. Retrieved 2020-04-16 from http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-and-lending-groups#Low_income.
World Health Organization. (2013). Handbook for the readiness assessment for the prevention of child maltreatment (RAP-CM). Retrieved 2020-04-16 from: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/child/handbook_rap_cmp.pdf?ua=1.
Funding
This study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 895-2011-1016).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (Canada, 2010) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Procedures were approved by the Ethical Review Board of the Centre jeunesse de Québec—Institut universitaire (MP-CJQ-IU-13-001, May 7, 2013).
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gagné, MH., Drapeau, S. & Clément, MÈ. Community Readiness for Child Maltreatment Prevention: The Challenge of a Brief Assessment. J Primary Prevent 41, 299–316 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-020-00591-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-020-00591-3