Designing Capacity-Building Supports to Promote Evidence-Based Programs in Community-Based Organizations Working with Underserved Populations

Background: It is critical to build capacity to use evidence-based health promotion programs in community-based organizations (CBOs), particularly those working with underserved populations. Packages of ongoing capacity-building supports seem to be critical, but it is not clear how best to design and deploy them.

Objectives: PLANET MassCONECT was a participatory research project to increase capacity for the use of evidence-based programs (EBPs) among CBO staff members in three Massachusetts communities experiencing health disparities. We assessed the impact of trainee engagement with capacity-building supports on the use of a systematic approach to program planning.

Methods: Trainees were enrolled from 2010 to 2012 and engaged until 2014. The intervention started with a workshop and included ongoing capacity-building supports (a customized web portal and resources, networking events, minigrants, and technical assistance). Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between trainee engagement with capacity-building supports offered after the workshop and key outcomes at year 1.

Results: Of the capacity-building supports offered after the workshop, the web portal was the most popular. Higher use of systematic program planning approaches in the first year was predicted by web portal use (odds ratio [OR], 3.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-8.67; p = 0.04), and participation in the minigrant process (OR, 5.40; 95% CI, 1.09-28.69; p = 0.04). Separately, high intention to use systematic approaches for program planning was predicted by web portal use (OR, 3.47; 95% CI, 1.27-9.52; p = 0.02).

Conclusions: Ongoing capacity-building supports may promote EBP planning in CBOs, but institutional constraints may limit practitioners' ability to engage with such supports.