Assessing regional need to build statewide capacity around integrating tobacco control and chronic disease issues

There is a growing call to integrate tobacco control and chronic disease issues, especially as tobacco use and exposure greatly impact those with or at-risk for chronic diseases. In Pennsylvania, a new initiative, implemented by the Health Promotion Council and sponsored by the Department of Health, seeks to build the capacity of community health and government organizations to address this need for integrated efforts. The initiative, Bringing Evidence-Based Research Initiatives to Disparate Groups with Evaluation (BE-A-BRIDGE), will conduct three regional summits, each with follow-up workshops as part of its capacity building efforts.

To inform each summit, BE-A-BRIDGE assessed regional need through a statewide Capacity Survey. The anonymous survey was distributed through BE-A-BRIDGE partner networks to maximize reach. Survey questions focused on four areas of organizational capacity: leadership capacity, adaptive capacity, management capacity and technical capacity. To further assess needs, participants were asked to rate and rank 21 potential skill-building trainings. Survey data were analyzed by region (approximated by zip code) to inform the structure and content of each BE-A-BRIDGE summit and workshop. Data were also used to analyze the reach of existing networks, inform discussions around current tobacco control and chronic disease integration at the community level, and identify baseline capacities for the new initiative. Survey results were shared with participants via a newsletter, which also served as a save-the-date for upcoming summits.