Community readiness survey: Norm development using a Q-sort process

This study reports on norms developed for the Minnesota Institute of Public Health's (1999) Community Readiness Survey. Prevention experts from ten states and the Red Lake Nation sorted data from 50 communities into high and low readiness groups using a Q-sort process. High inter-rater agreement was achieved on communities sorted. Tests of significance between the high and low readiness groups resulted in significant differences on the five scales of readiness: community members' perception of an alcohol, tobacco, and other drug problem; permissiveness of attitudes toward substance use; support for prevention; perceived access of alcohol and tobacco products for adolescents; and overall community commitment. Communities that implement a readiness assessment can use these results to target resources to areas in which high readiness is indicated and seek to increase readiness in areas in which lower scale scores are evidenced.