Community coalitions for smoke-free environments in Armenia and Georgia: A mixed methods analysis of coalition formation, implementation and perceived effectiveness.

Autor: Kegler MC; Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America., Dekanosidze A; Georgia National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, Tbilisi, Georgia, United States of America., Torosyan A; National Institute of Health, Ministry of Health, Yerevan, Armenia., Grigoryan L; National Institute of Health, Ministry of Health, Yerevan, Armenia., Rana S; Intervention Development, Dissemination and Implementation Shared Resource, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America., Hayrumyan V; Turpanjian College of Health Sciences, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia., Sargsyan Z; Turpanjian College of Health Sciences, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia., Berg CJ; Department of Prevention and Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington Cancer Center, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2023 Aug 03; Vol. 18 (8), pp. e0289149. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Aug 03 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289149
Abstrakt: Effective models for aligning public health and civil society at the local level have the potential to impact various global health issues, including tobacco. Georgia and Armenia Teams for Healthy Environments and Research (GATHER) is a collaboration between Armenia, Georgia and U.S. researchers involving a community randomized trial testing the impact of community coalitions to promote smoke-free policy adoption and compliance in various settings. Community Coalition Action Theory (CCAT) was used to guide and describe coalition formation, implementation and effectiveness. Mixed methods were used to evaluate 14 municipality-based coalitions in Georgia and Armenia, including semi-structured interviews (n = 42) with coalition leaders and active members, coalition member surveys at two timepoints (n = 85 and n = 83), and review of action plans and progress reports. Results indicated successful creation of 14 multi-sectoral coalitions, most commonly representing education, public health, health care, and municipal administration. Half of the coalitions created at least one smoke-free policy in specific settings (e.g., factories, parks), and all 14 promoted compliance with existing policies through no-smoking signage and stickers. The majority also conducted awareness events in school, health care, and community settings, in addition to educating the public about COVID and the dangers of tobacco use. Consistent with CCAT, coalition processes (e.g., communication) were associated with member engagement and collaborative synergy which, in turn, correlated with perceived community impact, skills gained by coalition members, and interest in sustainability. Findings suggest that community coalitions can be formed in varied sociopolitical contexts and facilitate locally-driven, multi-sectoral collaborations to promote health. Despite major contextual challenges (e.g., national legislation, global pandemic, war), coalitions were resilient, nimble and remained active. Additionally, CCAT propositions appear to be generalizable, suggesting that coalition-building guidance may be relevant for local public health in at least some global contexts.
Competing Interests: NO authors have competing interests.
(Copyright: © 2023 Kegler et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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