131P
Empowerment in Substance Abuse Prevention Coalitions: Testing Mediating Effects of Members' Participation and Role Engagement within a Statewide Context
The abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs is prevalent in the United States and contributes to a wide range of costly societal consequences, including motor vehicle crashes, suicide, interpersonal violence, unintentional injuries and poisonings. The widespread substance abuse and related harmful consequences underscore the need for effective treatment and prevention interventions. The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) is a national, data-driven, public-health model developed by the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to be used by communities in their efforts in substance abuse prevention. The overall goals of the SPF are to prevent and reduce substance abuse progression; build capacity among prevention communities through coalition building; and reduce harmful community consequences related to substance abuse. The framework includes a series of steps and guiding principles that can be utilized at the state, tribal, and community levels with an emphasis on environmental strategies targeting community-level change.
Using empowerment theories as a conceptual framework, the study examines several organizational characteristics and their impacts on psychological empowerment (PE) and perceived effectiveness within substance abuse prevention coalitions.
Methods
This study utilizes a cross-sectional design, which included the analysis of secondary data collected in 2013 for the evaluation of a statewide adoption of the SPF model in the northeastern United States. Participants were drawn from a purposeful, non-random sample of staff and members within 17 coalitions (n = 406). The data were collected through a web-based, self-administered survey containing 48 items, including subscales from existing, validated instruments of the following constructs: opportunity role structure (ORS), leadership, organizational sense of community (OSOC), skills capacity, member participation, and member role engagement, PE, and perceived effectiveness.
Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to examine a path model of hypothesized relationships between observed variables. This analysis is similar to traditional path analysis, however, SEM allows for simultaneous estimation of equations rather than a series of regression equations.
Results
According to the goodness-of-fit measures, the model was found to fit well for the sample. Results indicated positive several direct and indirect relationships between the predictor variables and their relationships with perceived effectiveness and PE. Leadership and ORS were found to predict perceived effectiveness directly. OSOC was found to predict perceived effectiveness directly, as well as indirectly through its relationships with skills capacity. OSOC was also found to predict PE directly, as well as indirectly through its relationships with member role engagement and member participation.
Conclusions and Implications
These findings extend previous research by demonstrating the importance of coalition member participation and engagement in multiple and meaningful roles. This study of a community-based model contributes to promising social work practice and policy. More specifically, the findings indicates organizational characteristics that may be useful for social worker leaders in their efforts in build the capacity of coalitions to prevent the harmful consequences of substance abuse. To further understand the dynamic nature of coalitions and their characteristics that might foster members’ empowerment and increase effectiveness, social work researchers should consider future studies to test these organizational characteristics in other coalition settings.