The concept of community readiness for preventive action

Abstract

Community readiness is defined as the extent to which a community is adequately prepared to develop and implement preventive interventions. The concept makes it possible to provide theoretically and scientifically grounded explanations of inconsistent effectiveness of prevention programs implemented in different communities. The article outlines the history of the community readiness model, its basic components (dimensions and stages) and practical implications - how to assess community readiness, and strategies to improve it.

Keywords

• prevention programs
• community readiness
• assessment
• improvement