Creating an instrument to measure people's perception of community capacity in American Indian communities

Health Educ Behav. 2011 Jun;38(3):301-10. doi: 10.1177/1090198110379571. Epub 2011 Apr 5.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a measure of community capacity for American Indian communities. The study included development and testing phases to ensure face, content, construct, and predictive validity. There were 500 participants in two southwest tribes who completed a detailed community profile, which contained 21 common items in five dimensions (communication, sense of community, youth, elders, and language/culture). In addition, subscales of women and leadership were included in one tribe each. Confirmatory factor analysis primarily supported the factorial structure of the instruments, and the seven dimensions were found to correlate with previously validated measures of social capital, historical trauma, community influence, and physical health in expected directions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Community-Based Participatory Research / organization & administration*
  • Community-Based Participatory Research / standards
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Indians, North American / psychology*
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Leadership*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Psychometrics / instrumentation*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Social Environment*
  • Young Adult