Facilitators and Challenges to Organizational Capacity Building in Heart Health Promotion

The authors describe the facilitators and challenges to a multisectoral initiative aiming at building organizational capacity for heart health promotion in Nova Scotia, Canada. The research process was guided by participatory action research. The study included 21 organizations from diverse sectors. Participant selection for the data collection was purposive. The authors collected data through organizational reflection logs and one-to-one semistructured interviews and used grounded theory techniques for the data analyses. Factors influencing organizational capacity for heart health promotion varied, depending on the project stage. Nonetheless, leadership, organizational readiness, congruence, research activities, technical supports, and partnerships were essential to capacity-building efforts. Approaches to organizational capacity building should be multileveled, because organizations are influenced by multiple social systems that are not all equally supportive of capacity.