| dc.description.abstract | Community coalitions have become a popular strategy for community change, bringing together diverse community partners to address persistent and complex social issues. It is widely assumed that representation from diverse sectors is central to the work of community coalitions, yet engaging partners with differing perspectives can also create internal issues when partners disagree on the causes or solutions to the issue at hand. Drawing from previous studies of community coalitions, this thesis explores the impact of coalitions’ sectoral diversity on members’ perceptions of their coalition’s cohesion. An action research partnership with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services provided access to survey data from the staff and participants of 35 county-level substance abuse prevention coalitions. Analyses tested relationships between coalitions’ sectoral diversity, similarity in the members’ perceptions of the causes of substance misuse (“convergence on causes”), communication between staff and members, communication among members, and participants’ perceptions of coalition unity. Results did not support the hypothesis that convergence on causes would be associated with greater coalition unity but did suggest that communication was positively associated with increased coalition unity. The findings suggest that having similar views on the focal issue may not be necessary for unity and highlight the powerful role of communication in coalitions. | en_US |
