Community Readiness Assessment
Prior to beginning work in your community (however you choose to define it), it is helpful to complete an assessment of the community’s current readiness level. Completing a Community Readiness Assessment is important as projects are unlikely to be successful unless the work matches the readiness level of the community. You may also find it helpful to complete a community key leader survey.
An example of a Community Key Leader survey is found here . This example has been modified to cover intimate partner and sexual violence. The original Wandersman and Goodman Key Leaders Survey can be found here. The survey was modified for use with sexual and intimate partner violence prevention to help coalitions in determining readiness for prevention. This survey, developed by Goodman and Wandersman at the University of South Carolina, uses key leaders to look at three areas: awareness, concern, and action across community levels. Key leaders respond to questions in these three areas both on a personal level and a perceptual level of their organization's responses.
The Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research has a community readiness assessment model that requires few resources and can be completed in a short period of time depending on staff and respondent availability. The Improve Group created a series of easy to follow webinars that lead you through the steps of the process.
The Improve Group YouTube Webinar Series - August 2014
Part 1- Community Readiness Assessment: Provides an overview of the community readiness model and introduction to the process.
A Discussion Guide for use after watching Part 1 is available. This guide will assist local groups in planning to implement a community readiness assessment process.
Part 1 - Community Readiness Assessment Activity:
Part 2 - Community Readiness Assessment Scoring: Provides a step-by-step guide to scoring the interviews after they have been completed.
Part 2 - Community Readiness Assessment Scoring Activity:
Part 3 - Community Readiness Assessment Planning: Addresses how to interpret and use the results of the readiness assessment to inform prevention work.
Part 3 - Community Readiness Assessment Planning Activity:
North Dakota Community Readiness Assessment Webinar: In 2017 the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDoH) Division of Injury and Violence Prevention conducted a statewide community readiness assessment for sexual and intimate partner violence primary prevention work. This webinar explains the assessment process and results.