Designing Capacity-Building Supports to Promote Evidence-Based Programs in Community-Based Organizations Working with Underserved Populations (2020)

Designing Capacity-Building Supports to Promote Evidence-Based Programs in Community-Based Organizations Working with Underserved Populations Shoba Ramanadhan, ScD, MPH, David Aronstein, MSW, Vilma Martinez-Dominguez, Ziming Xuan, ScD, SM, MA, and K. Viswanath, PhD What Is the Purpose of this Study? • To use a community-based participatory research approach to design, deliver, and evaluate an intervention to build capacity in community-based organizations for the use of evidence-based programs. • To examine how engagement with the intervention (after the initial workshop) impacts the use of evidence-based programs in practice settings. What Is the Problem? • Community-based organizations often do not have the needed staff capacity to use evidence-based programs. (Evidence-based programs are health interventions that have been formally tested and found to be effective in improving health outcomes.) • Although the literature suggests that staff members need a range of supports (such as technical assistance or manuals) to be able to find, adapt, and implement evidence-based programs, it is not clear how best to design and deliver these supports. What Are the Findings? • A community-based participatory research partnership centered in Boston, Lawrence, and Worcester, Massachusetts, supported the design, delivery, and evaluation of a capacity-building intervention for practitioners in community-based organizations working with underserved communities. • There was limited practitioner engagement with ongoing capacity-building supports offered after the workshop, which included a web portal and other resources, networking events, minigrants, and technical assistance. • The use of additional capacity-building supports (particularly the web portal and minigrants) drove the use of an evidence-based program planning approach one year after the training. Who Should Care Most? • Researchers and funders should be aware that capacity-building interventions to support evidence-based programming are likely to have more impact if they include additional engagement opportunities beyond a workshop or static training. At the same time, practice constraints may make it difficult for staff of low-resource organizations to take full advantage of training opportunities. • Leaders of community-based organizations should be aware that additional investment of staff time for ongoing training opportunities may yield greater impact for staff members. [End Page 141] • Additional participatory research will be important to refine capacity-building interventions to fit both the needs and constraints of staff of community-based organizations as they find, adapt, and implement evidence-based programs. [End Page 142] Shoba Ramanadhan Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health David Aronstein Health Resources in Action Vilma Martinez-Dominguez City of Lawrence, Community Development Ziming Xuan Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health K. Viswanath Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Community-Based Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Copyright © 2020 Johns Hopkins University Press