Community and Primary Prevention

The ecology of individual and family life suggests that humans and their primary social groups are surrounded by multiple layers of influences, including other individuals, families, and larger social groups as well as complex geographic, economic, and political systems. Many of these social influences on individuals and families are captured by the term community, broadly signifying collectives of individuals and families that are connected by virtue of geography, sentiment, intention and purpose, or happenstance.Whether individuals are active or passive participants in community life, individuals will experience community influences. Community capacity is comprised of two essential elements, which are shared responsibility for the general welfare of the community and its individual members and collective competence for addressing community needs and confronting situations that threaten the safety and well-being of community members. We contend that, in concert, these elements enable communities to deal more effectively with positive challenges as well as adversity and to achieve individual, family, and community results more effectively. Our discussion parses a model of community capacity building and shows its interface with multiple dimensions of health. Along the way we cite capacity-building examples already found in communities as well as scientific research from the health and human development disciplines. We make several assumptions about individuals, families, and communities. Among them are that (1) individuals are social creatures open to interacting with others, (2) families (whether biological or relational in composition) are the core social group in any community, (3) collectives (individuals and families) are able to accomplish more than either individuals or families can alone, and (4) community culture, structure, and organization provide an important context for individual and family functioning and the achievement of desired results.