PROCESS EVALUATION OF COMMUNITY COALITIONS FOR ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUG-ABUSE PREVENTION - A CASE-STUDY COMPARISON OF RESEARCHER-INITIATED AND COMMUNITY-INITIATED MODELS

During the past decade, coalitions have been assumed to be central to the structure and functioning of community health promotion and diseas e prevention projects. However, there has been little empirical evalua tion of community coalitions. The present paper presents case studies of two different coalition models, one a coalition developed to suppor t a community-based drug abuse prevention trial, and the other, a CSAP Community Partnership Demonstration Program site. Comparison of the t wo coalitions on key characteristics indicated that they were similar except for their impetus for initiation (researcher- versus community- initiated) and primary purpose (to support experimental program compon ents versus to coordinate prevention programming and develop new preve ntion services). Members of the two coalitions (n = 51 in the research er-initiated, and n = 49 in the community-initiated coalition) respond ed to a written survey that assessed immediate coalition process and a ctivity outcomes, including perceptions of coalition efficiency, outco me efficacy, interagency coordination, and benefits of involvement. Af ter controlling for demographic differences, the two groups of coaliti on members were similar, overall, on the measures of immediate outcome s. Univariate analyses indicated only one difference: members of the r esearcher-initiated coalition had higher ratings of perceived action c ommittee effectiveness than did members of the community-initiated coa lition. The results suggest that the impetus for initiation and primar y purpose of a coalition may not be as important as other factors in i nfluencing immediate process and activity outcomes.