Community capacity for prevention and health promotion: a systematic review on underlying domains and assessment methods

Abstract

Background Community capacity is defined as the characteristics of communities that affect their ability to identify and address social and public health problems. Building community capacity has developed into a well-recognized health promotion approach. Despite general agreement about certain capacity domains and frameworks, there is no comprehensive and consistent assessment of community capacity. The aim of this review is to identify a) domains and b) methods used to assess community capacity related to community-based prevention and health promotion. Methods A systematic search was performed on 06-01-2022 via PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct, with supplemental searches via Google Scholar. Studies in English, from 1990 to 2022, that explicitly described how community capacity was assessed in health promotion and prevention interventions, were included. Furthermore, studies had to meet at least two of the three following criteria for capacity assessment: a theoretical foundation, a participatory approach, or a field test of the assessment tool. From 3,086 records, after exclusion criteria were applied, 38 studies were included. Nineteen studies used mixed, eleven qualitative and eight quantitative methods. The various domains to assess community capacity were identified and reassembled into nine comprehensive domains: community participation, knowledge and skills, resources, leadership, community power, sense of community, collaboration, critical awareness and problem-solving, and community structure. Additionally, four sub-domains were found: commitment, communication, shared values and goals, and sustainability. Discussion This review provides an overview of community capacity domains and assessment methods, thus facilitating the development of a comprehensive approach to capacity assessment in future research.