Given both the importance and difficulty of promoting community-based public health coalitions, their capacity for sustainable action merits systematic examination. The current study addresses this need, focusing specifically on the relational dimension of capacity, that is, how relationships both among members and with external actors affect coalition-level activity. The context is a multimethod comparative case study of two rural cancer control coalitions. The authors began by using quantitative and qualitative data to characterize relational capacity in each coalition and then assessed the association between coalition-level relational capacity and level of subsequent interventions. The more active coalition had a more inclusive relational structure than did its less active counterpart but also placed less emphasis on personal friendships. The authors conclude that coalitions’ relational structures are measurable and that this dimension of capacity may affect sustainable capacity for health promotion.
Alexander, J. A., Weiner, B. J., Metzger, M., Shortell, S. M., Bazzoli, G. J., Hasnain-Wynia, R., et al. (2003). Sustainability of collaborative capacity in community health partnerships. Medical Care Research & Review, 60(4), 130S-160S.
2.
Bolland, J. M., & Wilson, J. V. (1994). Three faces of integrative coordination: A model of interorganizational relations in community-based health and human services. Health Services Research, 29(3), 341-366.
3.
Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., & Freeman, L. C. (1999). UCINET 5 for Windows: Software for social science network analysis. Natick, MA: Analytic Technologies.
4.
Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
5.
Brass, D. J., & Burkhardt, M. E. (1993). Potential power and power use—An investigation of structure and behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 36(3), 441-470.
6.
Butterfoss, F. D., & Kegler, M. C. (2002). Toward a comprehensive understanding of community coalitions: Moving from practice to theory. In R. J. DiClemente, R. S. Crosby, & M. C. Kegler (Eds.), Emerging theories in health promotion practices and research (p. 414-414). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
7.
Chavis, D. M. (2001). The paradoxes and promise of community coalitions. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29(2), 309-320.
8.
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532-550.
9.
Elliott, S. J., O’Loughlin, J., Robinson, K., Eyles, J., Cameron, R., Harvey, D., et al. (2003). Conceptualizing dissemination research and activity: The case of the Canadian Heart Health Initiative. Health Education & Behavior, 30(3), 267-282.
10.
Feinberg, M. E., & Greenberg, M. T. (2002). Final report: Evaluation of communities that care in Pennsylvania. University Park: Pennsylvania State University.
11.
Feinberg, M. E., Riggs, N., & Greenberg, M. T. (2003). Social networks and community prevention coalitions. University Park: Pennsylvania University.
12.
Fernandez, R. M., & Gould, R. V. (1994). A dilemma of state power: Brokerage and influence in the National Health Policy domain. American Journal of Sociology, 99(6), 1455-1491.
13.
Foster-Fishman, P. G., Berkowitz, S. L., Lounsbury, D. W., Jacobson, S., & Allen, N. A. (2001). Building collaborative capacity in community coalitions: A review and integrative framework. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29(2), 241-257.
14.
Foster-Fishman, P. G., Salem, D. A., Allen, N. A., & Fahrbach, K. (2001). Facilitating inter-organizational collaboration: The contributions of interorganizational alliances. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29(6), 875-905.
15.
Freudenberg, N. (2004). Community capacity for environmental health promotion: Determinants and implications for practice. Health Education & Behavior, 31(4), 472-490.
16.
Friedell, G. H., Friedell, G. H., Rubio, A., Maretzki, A., Garland, B., Brown, P., Crane, M., et al. (2001). Community cancer control in a rural, underserved population: The Appalachia Leadership Initiative on Cancer Project. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 12(1), 5-19.
17.
Goodman, R. M., Speers, M., McLeroy, K., Fawcett, S., Kegler, M., Parker, E., et al. (1998). Identifying and defining the dimensions of community capacity to provide a basis for measurement. Health Education & Behavior, 25(3), 258-278.
18.
Herman, K. A., Wolfson, M., & Forster, J. L. (1993). The evolution, operation and future of Minnesota SAFPLAN: A coalition for family planning. Health Education Research, 8(3), 331-344.
19.
Human, S. E., & Provan, K. G. (2000). Legitimacy building in the evolution of small-firm multilateral networks: A comparative study of success and demise. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45, 327-365.
20.
Kegler, M. C., Steckler, A., McLeroy, K., & Malek, S. H. (1998). Factors that contribute to effective community health promotion coalitions: A study of 10 project ASSIST coalitions in North Carolina. Health Education & Behavior, 25(3), 338-353.
21.
Kilduff, M., & Krackhardt, D. (1994). Bringing the individual back in: A structural analysis of the internal market for reputation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 37(1), 87-108.
22.
Krackardt, D. (1999). The ties that torture: Simmelian tie analysis in organizations. Sociology of Organizations, 16, 183-210.
23.
Kreuter, M. W. (1992). PATCH: Its origins, basic concepts, and links to contemporary health policy. Journal of Health Education, 23(3), 135-139.
24.
Kumpfer, K. L., Turner, C., Hopkins, R., & Librett, J. (1993). Leadership and team effectiveness in community coalitions for the prevention of alcohol and other drug abuse. Health Education Research: Theory & Practice, 8(3), 359-374.
25.
Maskill, C., & Hodges, I. (2001). Intersectoral initiatives for improving the health of local communities: A literature review. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.
26.
Miles, M. B., and Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
27.
Mitchell, S. M., & Shortell, S. M. (2000). The governance and management of effective community health partnerships: A typology for research, policy, and practice. Milbank Quarterly, 78(2), 241-289.
28.
Monge, P. R.,& Contractor, N. S. (2001). Emergence of communication networks. In F. M. Jablin & L. L. Putnam (Eds.), The new handbook of organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods (pp. 440-502). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
29.
Provan, K. G., & Milward, H. B. (1995). A preliminary theory of interorganizational network effectiveness: A comparative study of four community mental health systems. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 1-33.
30.
Rogers, T., Howard-Pitney, B., Feighery, E. C., Altman, D. G., Endres, J. M., & Roeseler, A. G. (1993). Characteristics and participant perceptions of tobacco control coalitions in California. Health Education Research: Theory & Practice, 8(3), 345-357.
31.
Scott, J. (2000). Social network analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
32.
Seidman, S. (1983). Network structure and minimum degree. Social Networks, 5, 269-287.
33.
Stevenson, W. B., & Greenberg, D. (2000). Agency and social networks: Strategies of action in a social structure of position, opposition, and opportunity. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45, 651-678.
34.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
35.
The Singapore Declaration: Forging the will for heart health in the next millennium. (1998). In Declaration of the Advisory Board of the Third International Heart Health Conference. Singapore: Singapore National Heart Association.
36.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2000). United States Census 2000. Retrieved July 18, 2005, from http://www.census.gov/www.census.gov
37.
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods and applications. New York: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed., Vol. 5). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
