It is important for public health workers to gain knowledge and skills in community and coalition building, particularly in a time of growing public-private collaboration to address public health issues. This presentation describes the curriculum of a continuing education training for coalition building and team work in public health promotion. The training was conducted in the summer of 2000 with community health workers in the state of Arkansas. At the time, Arkansas was beginning a transition from a centralized public health approach to a decentralized, locally based, coalition approach. Didactic components of the training included material on best practices in community building, fundamental concepts and basic assumptions in coalitions for public health promotion, and information on appropriate evaluations of public health coalitions. Experiential components included visioning exercises, force field analysis, community assessment, conflict management, and uses of the Internet for coalition building. Handouts from the training and results of the training evaluation will be provided during the presentation.
Learning Objectives: 1. Discuss and recognize best practices in community building for health. 2. Apply the principles of successful meetings to community health collaborations. 3. Develop visioning exercises and force field analyses targeted to specific health issues in communities.
Keywords: Community Building, Community Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.