Articles

Honoring the Differences: Using Community Readiness to Create Culturally Valid Community Interventions

More and more frequently we hear that it takes a village to raise a child. While that may be true, the village must be ready to assume that responsibility or it won't happen. Mobilizing and thereby changing a community system requires vision, voices, and commitment. Addressing any community social problem is a multi-faceted task with many potential pitfalls. Changing national policy rarely has immediate local effects and may never have public support.

Community Readiness and Health Services

Community readiness theory is a practical tool for implementing changes in community health services. The theory provides methods for assessment, diagnosis, and community change. First, community key informants are asked semi-structured questions that provide information about what is occurring in the community in relation to a specific problem. The results evaluate readiness to deal with that problem on six dimensions; existing efforts, knowledge.

Community Readiness: A Promising Model for Community Healing

Daniel Quinn (1999), in "The Story of B" suggests that if the world is to be saved, it will be saved by people with changed minds, people with a new vision - if the time isn't right for a new idea, it will fail. If however, the time is right, an idea can sweep the world like wildfire. He believes that the measure of change is not the level of ease or difficulty with which the changes are made, but the readiness or unreadiness to accept the change.

Community Readiness: A Model for Healing in a Rural Alaskan Community

Intervention with a community in crisis has similarities to intervention with a family in crisis. Both can present quite a challenge. In fact, even the term "community" reflects similar concepts to family: a group of people, kinship, unity, identity, cooperation, cooperative spirit. A community, like a family, is defined by the people who live within it. The connectedness between those living in rural communities is very similar to family systems.

The Community Readiness Model: Research to Practice

Communities are at many different stages of readiness for implementing programs, and this readiness is a major factor in determining whether a local program can be effectively implemented and supported by the community. The Community Readiness Model was developed to meet research needs, (e.g., matching treatment and control communities for an experimental intervention) as well as to provide a practical tool to help communities mobile for change.

Publications

Vernon, I., & Jumper-Thurman, P. (2005). The changing face of HIV/AIDS among Native populations. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 27(3), 247-255.

Kelly, K., Edwards, R., Comello, M. L. G., Plested, B.A., Jumper-Thurman, P., & Slater, M. (2003). The community readiness model: A complementary approach to social marketing. Marketing Theory, 3(4), 411-425.

Jumper-Thurman, P., Plested, B. A., Edwards, R. W., Foley, R., & Burnside, M. (2003). Community readiness: The journey to community healing. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 35(1), 27-31.

Jumper-Thurman, P., Edwards, R. W., Plested, B. A., & Oetting, E. R. (2003). Honoring the differences: Using community readiness to create culturally valid community interventions. In G. Bernal, J. Trimble, K. Burlew, & F. Leong (Eds.), Handbook of Racial & Ethnic Minority Psychology (pp. 591-607). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Vernon, I., & Jumper-Thurman, P. (2002). Prevention of HIV/AIDS in Native communities: Promising interventions. Public Health Reports, 117(3),(Suppl. 1), S96-S103.

Oetting, E. R., Jumper-Thurman, P., Plested, B. A., & Edwards, R. W. (2001). Community Readiness and Health Services, 36(6 & 7), 825-843.

Jumper-Thurman, P., Plested, B. A., Edwards, R. W., Helm, H. M., & Oetting, E. R. (2001). Using the community readiness model in Native communities. Health Promotion and Substance Abuse Prevention Among American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: Issues in Cultural Competence, CSAP 9, 129-158.

Edwards, R. W., Jumper-Thurman. P., Plested, B. A., Oetting, E. R., & Swanson, L. (2000). The community readiness model: Research to practice. Journal of Community Psychology, 28(3), 291-307.

Jumper-Thurman, P., Plested, B. A., Edwards, R. W., Helm, H. M., & Oetting, E. R. (2000). Community readiness: A promising model for community healing. In D. Bigfoot-Subia (Ed.), Native American Topic-specific Monograph Series. Oklahoma City, OK: The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Office for Victims of Crime, Department of Justice.

Jumper-Thurman, P. & Plested, B. A. (2000, Summer). Community readiness: A model for healing in a rural Alaskan community. The Family Psychologist, 8-9.

Slater, M. D., Kelly, K., & Edwards, R. W. (2000). Integrating social marketing, community readiness and media advocacy in community-based prevention efforts. Social Marketing Quarterly, VI(3), 125-137.

Plested, B. A., Smitham, D. M., Jumper-Thurman, P., Oetting, E. R., and Edwards, R. W. (1999). Readiness for drug use prevention in rural minority communities. Substance Use and Misuse, 34(4 & 5), 521-544.

Plested, B.A., Jumper-Thurman, P., Edwards, R. W., & Oetting, E. R. (1998). Community readiness: A tool for effective community-based prevention. Prevention Researcher, (5)2, 5-7.

Donnermeyer, J. F., Oetting, E. R., Plested, B. A., Edwards, R. W., Jumper-Thurman, P., & Littlethunder, L. (1997). Community readiness and prevention programs. Journal of Community Development, 28(1), 65-83.

Oetting, E. R., Donnermeyer, J. F., Plested, B. A., Edwards, R. W., Kelly, K., & Beauvais, F. (1995). Assessing community readiness for prevention. The International Journal of the Addictions, 30(6), 659-683.