title: Development, validation, and performance of a scale to measure community mobilization.
abstract: Community mobilization approaches (CMAs) are increasingly becoming key components of health programming. However, CMAs have been ill defined and poorly evaluated, largely due to the lack of measurement tools to assess mobilization processes and impact.
  
  
  
  We developed the Community Mobilization Measure (CMM), composed of a set of scales to measure mobilization domains hypothesized to operate at the community-level. The six domains include: shared concerns, critical consciousness, leadership, collective action, social cohesion, and organizations and networks. We also included the domain of social control to explore synergies with the related construct of collective efficacy.
  
  
  
  A survey instrument was developed and pilot tested, then revised and administered to 1181 young people, aged 18-35, in a community-based survey in rural South Africa. Item response modeling and exploratory factor analyses were conducted to assess model fit, dimensionality, reliability, and validity.
  
  
  
  Results indicate the seven-dimensional model, with linked domains but no higher order construct, fit the data best. Internal consistency reliability of the factors was strong, with ρ values ranging from 0.81 to 0.93. Six of seven scales were sufficiently correlated to represent linked concepts that comprise community mobilization; social control was less related to the other components. At the village level, CMM sub-scales were correlated with other metrics of village social capital and integrity, providing initial evidence of higher-level validity, however additional evaluation of the measure at the community-level is needed.
  
  
  
  This is the first effort to develop and validate a comprehensive measure for community mobilization. The CMM was designed as an evaluation tool for health programming and should facilitate a more nuanced understanding of mechanisms of change associated with CM, ultimately making mobilizing approaches more effective.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, Department of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA; MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Electronic address: sheri.lippman@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Sheri A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Lippman
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, Department of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Torsten B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Neilands
authors.affiliation: University of California, Berkeley, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Hannah H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Leslie
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maman
authors.affiliation: Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI), School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; School of Rural Medicine, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: MacPhail
authors.affiliation: MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Rhian
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Twine
authors.affiliation: Sonke Gender Justice, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Peacock
authors.affiliation: MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Umeå Centre for Global Health Research, Division of Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kahn
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pettifor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000067290:Behavior Rating Scale / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013019:South Africa; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Community mobilization; Critical consciousness; Measurement; Social cohesion; South Africa