title: The Community Readiness Survey. Development and initial validation.
abstract: This article reports on the development and evaluation of a mail survey measuring population attitudes toward substance use of potential receptivity of communities to different prevention efforts. The Community Readiness Survey was designed through a series of prevention practitioner and consultant meetings and focus groups. Psychometric evaluation revealed five distinct domains: perception of alcohol, tobacco, or other drug problem; support for prevention; permissive attitudes toward teen substance use; perception of adolescent access; and perception of community commitment. Evidence of construct validity was demonstrated by the small but significant relationships between selected scale scores and community readiness as evaluated by prevention planners.
authors.affiliation: Minnesota Department of Human Services, Health Care Research Division, 444 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-3865, USA. tim.beebe@state.mn.us
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Beebe
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hedger
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D003256:Community Participation; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota; D011594:Psychometrics; D012944:Social Support; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*