Development of a brief, online community readiness survey for smoke-free policy

Smoke-free policies are the most effective public health solution to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke. Our 5-year NHLBI-funded community-based RCT to promote smoke-free policy uses stage of community readiness to guide tailored interventions for smoke-free policy. The Community Readiness Survey long form (CRS-L) is a 186-item interviewer administered telephone survey, with six dimensions: resources (68 items); knowledge (15 items); leadership (33 items); climate (6 items); political climate (31); existing policy (18). The purpose was to develop and pilot test a short online version of the CRS-L. The specific aims were to: (1) determine which CRS-L items were significantly associated with each dimension summary score; (2) create the Community Readiness Survey short form (CRS-S) based on the most highly correlated items; and (3) evaluate the correlation between dimension and overall readiness scores on the CRS-L and the CRS-S. Using Wave 3 data, items were selected for inclusion in the CRS-S using t-tests, Pearson r or Spearman Rho depending on the level of measurement. During Wave 4, the CRS-S was pilot tested using Qualtrics with a convenience sample of 44 smoke-free advocates (72% response rate) who had completed CRS-L. Readiness scores were calculated for each participant's responses to the CRS-L and CRS-S. The correlations for readiness dimensions ranged from .57-.76, and the overall correlation was .82. The tool will be modified, re-tested with Wave 5 data, and a system of immediate online scoring will be determined. The tool will be used by advocates to gauge community readiness to tailor their smoke-free campaigns.