title: Development of multidimensional scales to measure key leaders' perceptions of community capacity and organizational capacity for teen pregnancy prevention.
abstract: This study discusses the development of scales to measure key leaders' self-reported involvement in community capacity building, perceptions of organizational capacity for teen pregnancy prevention, and the relationship between capacity and teen pregnancy rates. Data were collected from 1,516 key leaders across a rural southern state. Findings indicate that key leaders' perceptions of organizational capacity are related to their involvement in community capacity building efforts and community capacity is associated with teen pregnancy rates. This research represents progress toward measuring community and organizational capacity and may be used to inform future work focusing on developing quantitative measures of community capacity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion Education and Behavior, Prevention Research Center, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, 29208, USA. sgriffin@sc.edu
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Reininger
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parra-Medina
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanderson
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Vincent
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003256:Community Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design; D012424:Rural Population