Beebe, T.J., P. Harrison, A. Sharma, and S.A. Hedger. 2001. “The Community Readiness Survey: Development and Initial Validation.” Evaluation Review 25(1):55-71.

This article reports on the development and evaluation of a mail survey measuring population attitudes toward substance use of potential receptivity of communities to different prevention efforts. The Community Readiness Survey was designed through a series of prevention practitioner and consultant meetings and focus groups. Psychometric evaluation revealed five distinct domains: perception of alcohol, tobacco, or other drug problem; support for prevention; permissive attitudes toward teen substance use; perception of adolescent access; and perception of community commitment. Evidence of construct validity was demonstrated by the small but significant relationships between selected scale scores and community readiness as evaluated by prevention planners.