Pathways to Effectiveness in Substance Abuse Prevention: Empowering Organizational Characteristics of Community-Based Coalitions

Abstract

Coalition development is an important approach to the prevention of substance abuse. In addition, empowerment is considered a critical foundation of coalitions' effectiveness. Few studies, however, have tested the characteristics of coalitions that predict empowerment and effectiveness in substance abuse prevention contexts. This study tested a path model that included organizational characteristics as predictors of members' empowerment and ratings of coalition effectiveness. Participants (n = 138) were members of 11 coalitions. Leadership had an indirect effect on coalition effectiveness through its influence on opportunity role structure, social support, and group-based belief system. Empowerment mediated the effect of social support on effectiveness.Keywords: coalitions, empowerment, perceived effectiveness, strategic prevention framework, substance abuse prevention INTRODUCTIONCoalitions often focus on creating changes in public policy or other environmental conditions that contribute to the prevalence of substance abuse in communities (Bunnell et al., 2012;Frieden, 2010;Gloppen, Arthur, Hawkins, & Shapiro, 2012;Linowski & DiFulvio, 2012; Wolfson et al., 2012). The present study contributes to the literature through an examination of community coalitions implementing a new federally driven substance abuse prevention framework. In particular, we test a conceptual model specifying organizational characteristics that are hypothesized as promoting empowerment among coalition members and their perceptions of coalition effectiveness. This social work investigation of coalition building within a substance abuse prevention context is an important step in increasing our understanding of empowerment-related processes and outcomes and how they can contribute to the effectiveness of groups working to improve quality of life through communitylevel interventions. Research that applies empowerment as a theoretical framework may contribute to our knowledge of strategies to improve social work practice in ways that build on the strengths of coalitions to effect social change, especially as it relates to preventing the harmful consequences of substance abuse in communities.Correspondence should be addressed to Kristen Gilmore Powell, Rutgers University, School of Social Work, 390 George Street, 5th Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. E-mail: kgilmore@ssw.rutgers.edu 472 POWELL AND PETERSONEmpowerment is a fundamental concept within the social work profession. For example, the social work Code of Ethics emphasizes the need for social workers to facilitate the empowerment of vulnerable populations by addressing environmental barriers that negatively affect the health and well-being of people on a macro scale (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). Empowerment theory encourages researchers and practitioners to focus beyond the individual level of analysis and attend to environmental risk factors affecting the well-being of those most vulnerable. Tracing the field's roots back to the settlement house movement, social wor...

Quality of collaboration within health promotion partnerships: Impact on sense of community, empowerment, and perceived projects' outcomes

“…Empowerment, in general terms, concerns individuals and communities increasing control and gaining mastery over their lives (Perkins & Zimmerman, 1995). In the field of health promotion, psychological empowerment has been defined as the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health and it has been used as a framework to guide numerous studies of community-based participation and health promotion interventions (Powell & Peterson, 2014). Empowerment, even in the field of health promotion, can be understood as the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and capacities like critical awareness and problem-solving that may affect citizens' health through engagement in partnerships and collective participation.…”

“…Communities with a strong sense of community may more easily engage in partnerships because residents believe that their needs can be met through joint efforts (Armenakis, Harris, & Mossholder, ). Powell and Peterson () found that sense of community was a significant predictor of perceived effectiveness of coalitions for substance abuse prevention. We assume that, to the extent that members of the partnership are collaborating effectively in view of the shared goal of enhancing health, they will come to perceive themselves as a community (Campbell & Jovchelovitch, ), developing a shared sense of belonging and a shared ownership and responsibility in health promotion (Treitler, Andrew Peterson, Howell, & Powell, ).…”

“…Empowerment, in general terms, concerns individuals and communities increasing control and gaining mastery over their lives (Perkins & Zimmerman, ). In the field of health promotion, psychological empowerment has been defined as the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health and it has been used as a framework to guide numerous studies of community‐based participation and health promotion interventions (Powell & Peterson, ).…”

A systematic review on organizational empowerment

“…During the review, we found that participation is implicitly present in the framework of OE. Only one study (Powell and Peterson, 2014) focused on how participation is linked with the processes in the model. Future research should explicate how the processes influence participation.…”

“…Further, building trust and a relationship contributes to members' empowerment and leads to achieving goals beyond expectation (Forenza and Mendonca, 2017;Janssen et al, 2015). Underpopulated settings Opportunity role structure (Alcantara, 2012;Forenza, 2014Forenza, , 2016Forenza and Mendonca, 2017;Peterson et al, 2013;Maton, 2008;Powell, 2013;Powell and Peterson, 2014;Segal et al, 2013;Tesdahl and Speer, 2015) Collaboration between coempowered subgroups (Carrasco et al, 2016) Resolved ideological conflict Resource identification Leadership (Forenza, 2014(Forenza, , 2016(Forenza, , 2017Forenza and Mendonca, 2017;Janssen et al, 2015;Maton, 2008;Powell and Peterson, 2014;Valsania et al, 2016) Social support (Christens and Lin;2014;Forenza, 2016Forenza, , 2017Forenza and Mendonca, 2017;Powell, 2013;Powell and Peterson, 2014) Group-based belief system (Forenza, 2014(Forenza, , 2017Maton, 2008;Powell, 2013;Powell and Peterson, 2014) New processes and outcomes of intraorganizational empowerment Team empowerment (Yiannakis et al, 2006) Sense of community (Christens and Lin, 2014;Hughey et al, 2008;…”