This research examines the practice of community coaching within coalitions in the Communities Preventing Childhood Obesity project. A quasi-experimental design was used in seven Midwestern states. Each state selected two rural, low-income communities with functioning health coalitions. Coalitions were randomly assigned to be intervention or comparison communities. After 4 years of the coaching intervention, ripple effect mapping served as one method for examining the coalitions' work that may affect children's weight status. A research team from each state conducted ripple effect mapping with their two coalitions, resulting in 14 ripple maps. Community capitals framework and the social-ecological model were used for coding the items identified within the ripple maps. A quantitative scoring analysis determined if differences existed between the intervention and comparison coalitions in terms of the activities, programs, funding, and partnerships for social-ecological model score (e.g., individual, community, policy levels), community capitals score, and ripples score (e.g., number of branches formed within the maps). All scores were higher in intervention communities; however, the differences were not statistically significant (p > .05). Assessing community assets, such as availability of a community coach, is necessary in order to decide whether to deploy certain resources when designing health promotion strategies.
Keywords: childhood obesity; community capitals; community coaching; low income; ripple effect mapping; rural health; social ecological model.