Understanding community context is as important to develop effective community-based injury prevention programs as assessing attitudes and behaviors among individuals. Readiness of a community toward community efforts to promote bicycle helmet use and of individuals to use bicycle helmets were examined in a northern Colorado town in the United States, using a semi-qualitative approach. Community readiness and individual readiness to prevent injuries through use of bicycle helmets differed across groups. The findings provide a better understanding of interactions between community perceptions and individual attitudes and behaviors. Further, target groups for improving bicycle helmet use were identified.
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