Productive Struggle: How Community Coalitions Developed Capacity to Conduct Qualitative Research Through CBPR

There is a lack of evidence as to how the subcomponents of motivation, innovation-specific capacity, and organizational capacity affect community readiness and the implementation of evidenced-based practices. The Strategic Prevention Framework-Partnerships for Success (SPF-PFS) Initiative in Ohio is guided by a collaboration between the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Ohio’s SPF-PFS Evaluation Team, Ohio’s Coaching and Mentoring Network, and community coalitions from 10 Appalachian and/or rural communities. To address the goals of the SPF-PFS, we paired an empowerment evaluation framework with a community-based participatory research approach that enabled communities to take complete ownership of local data and research processes. This approach yielded a pedagogical framework in which all 10 community coalitions were able to extend a quantitative needs assessment by examining local conditions contributing to substance use using qualitative research methods. Members of the coalitions became local leaders in conducting qualitative research, which, in turn, enhanced their organizational capacity. Our purpose is to communicate this successful strategy, along with some challenges we encountered, for developing innovation-specific capacity within the participating community coalitions to utilize qualitative research methods in order to obtain information about the local conditions affecting substance misuse. We describe how an empowerment evaluation framework, when paired with community-based participatory research, can also increase organizational capacity by supporting community coalitions as they successfully leveraged new skills related to strategic planning.