Department of Behavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30033, USA.
Turpanjian College of Health Sciences, American University of Armenia, 40 Marshal Baghramyan Ave., 0019 Yerevan, Armenia.
Health Promot Int. 2024 Jun 1;39(3). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daae058.
Community coalitions depend on their members to synergistically pool diverse resources, including knowledge and expertise, community connections and varied perspectives, to identify and implement strategies and make progress toward community health improvement. Several coalition theories suggest synergy is the key mechanism driving coalition effectiveness. The Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) asserts that synergy depends on how well coalitions engage their members and leverage their resources, which is influenced by coalition processes, member participation and satisfaction and benefits outweighing costs. The current study used mixed methods, including coalition member surveys (n = 83) and semi-structured interviews with leaders and members (n = 42), to examine the process of creating collaborative synergy in 14 community coalitions for smoke-free environments in Armenia and Georgia. Members, typically seven per coalition representing education, public health, health care and municipal administration sectors, spent an average of 16 hr/month on coalition-related work. Common benefits included making the community a better place to live and learning more about tobacco control. The greatest cost was attending meetings or events at inconvenient times. Members contributed various resources, including their connections and influence, skills and expertise and access to population groups and settings. Strong coalition processes, greater benefits and fewer costs of participation and satisfaction were correlated with leveraging of member resources, which in turn, was highly correlated with collaborative synergy. Consistent with CCAT, effective coalition processes created a positive climate where membership benefits outweighed costs, and members contributed their resources in a way that created collaborative synergy.
社区联盟依赖其成员协同汇集各种资源，包括知识和专业知识、社区联系和不同的观点，以确定和实施战略，推动社区健康改善。几种联盟理论表明协同是推动联盟有效性的关键机制。社区联盟行动理论（CCAT）断言，协同取决于联盟如何有效地吸引其成员并利用其资源，这受到联盟过程、成员参与和满意度以及收益超过成本的影响。本研究采用混合方法，包括对联盟成员的调查（n=83）和对领导人和成员的半结构化访谈（n=42），以检验在亚美尼亚和格鲁吉亚的 14 个无烟环境社区联盟中创造协作协同的过程。成员通常代表教育、公共卫生、医疗保健和市政府管理部门，每个联盟有七人，每月平均花费 16 小时用于与联盟相关的工作。常见的好处包括使社区成为一个更宜居的地方和更多地了解烟草控制。最大的成本是在不方便的时间参加会议或活动。成员贡献了各种资源，包括他们的联系和影响力、技能和专业知识以及接触人群和环境的机会。强有力的联盟进程、更大的收益以及参与和满意度的成本较低与成员资源的利用有关，而成员资源的利用又与协作协同高度相关。与 CCAT 一致，有效的联盟进程创造了一个积极的氛围，使成员收益超过成本，并且成员以创造协作协同的方式贡献其资源。
