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What is community readiness?

___Community readiness is the degree to which a community is ready to take action on an issue.

Community readiness is:

___Issue-specific.

___Measurable.

___Measurable across multiple dimensions.

___Variable across dimensions.

___Variable across different segments of the community.

___Able to be increased successfully.

___Is essential knowledge for addressing an issue.

What is the community readiness model?

___The community readiness model has six dimensions and nine levels.

Dimensions of community readiness:

___Community efforts.

___Community knowledge of the efforts.

___Leadership.

___Community climate.

___Community knowledge about the issue.

___Resources related to the issue.

Levels of community readiness:

___No awareness.

___Denial/Resistance.

___Vague awareness.

___Pre-planning.

___Preparation.

___Initiation.

___Stabilization.

___Confirmation/Expansion.

___High level of community ownership.

Why use the community readiness model?

___It conserves valuable resources (time, money, people) by guiding the selection of strategies that are most likely to be successful.

___It is an efficient, inexpensive, and easy-to-use tool.

___It promotes community recognition and ownership of the issue.

___Because of strong community ownership, it helps to assure that strategies are culturally congruent and sustainable.

___It encourages the use of local experts and resources instead of reliance on outside experts and resources.

___The process of community change can be complex and challenging, but the model breaks down the process into a series of manageable steps.

___It creates a community vision for healthy change

When should you use the community readiness model?

___In the course of an ongoing effort.

___Each time you tackle a new issue.

___When several different communities, or different segments of the community, are involved.

___When you’re planning an effort that involves a participatory process.

___When you’re engaged in a community or neighborhood planning effort.

Who should be involved in using the community readiness model?

___Who should consider using the model and/or administering the assessment?

  • Policymakers and planners.
  • Community activists.
  • Health and human service organizations.
  • Coalitions.
  • Anyone else interested in community or social change.

___Who should be surveyed when the model is being applied?

  • Schools/Universities
  • Municipal/county/tribal government
  • Law enforcement
  • Health & medical professions
  • Social services
  • Mental health & treatment services
  • Clergy or spiritual community
  • Community at large
  • Youth
  • People on fixed incomes

How do you use the community readiness model?

Administering and scoring the community readiness assessment:

___Choose and train interviewers.

___Choose and train scorers.

___Revise the assessment tool, if necessary, to reflect the issue you’re concerned with.

___Select four to ten people to interview.

___Contact the people you have identified and see if they would be willing to discuss the issue.

___Conduct your interviews.

___Score the interviews.

Using community readiness information:

___Initiate a participatory planning process, if possible.

___To move ahead, readiness on all dimensions must be at about the same level.

___Begin with strategies appropriate to the community’s stage of readiness.

___Stick to it – the job’s never really done.