4110.2: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 - Board 6

Abstract #9778

Consensus building to enhance community engagement in a family strengthening program

Phyllis MacDonald du Mont, PhD, RN, College of Nursing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1200 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37966, (423) 974-7593, pamdumont@aol.com

The purpose of this research was to describe and evaluate a method of community consensus building as applied to the selection of a culturally congruent family intervention model in an urban, minority community. The setting was a school-based primary care health center serving a largely African-American neighborhood. Stakeholders were defined as the intended consumers of services (students and families), individuals who defined themselves as community members(regardless of geographic boundaries) as well as the clinical providers. The process of recruiting and maintaining community stakeholders in consensus building activities was documented and formative evaluation was performed. Brainstorming sessions were employed to develop consensus statements about family strengths, family challenges, and the desired characteristics of a program to enhance family life. Outcome measures included descriptive statistics about the level of stakeholder attendance, participation, and satisfaction with the process. Transcripts of group processes were analyzed to reveal patterns of interaction and influence. The results will be useful to researchers planning community level prevention activities. This work was done as part of a larger, CSAP funded Family Strengthening grant.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to:

  1. Describe the consensus building process.
  2. Identify three advantages of using consensus building activities.
  3. Identify three methods of participant recruitment in the consensus building process.
  4. Describe the differences between a mutually developed consensus statement regarding program selection and selection based on stakeholder voting.

Keywords: Adolescents, Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Funded by CSAP Family Strengthening Grant

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA