A model for perceived coalition effectiveness: the relationship of coalition variables to predict cancer councils' organizational capacity to achieve effective community outcomes

Public Health has long led the fight against unjust health disparities within the United States. More and more health educators have had to rely on the social capital of underserved communities via Community Coalitions. Throughout this study, the significance and growth of coalitions and its importance within the field of Public Health was highlighted. The purpose of this study was to test the operational constructs within the Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT), mainly the constructs of 1) stages of coalition development, 2) membership engagement, 3) leadership, 4) coalition structures & processes, as well as 5) perceived coalition ownership in explaining 6) perceived coalition capacity effectiveness (dependent variable). Results of this study revealed that perceived coalition capacity effectiveness was best predicted by stage of coalition development and perceived coalition ownership. This model accounted for 55.5% of the variance within this study when explaining the high impact participants achieved in regard to their perceived coalition capacity effectiveness.