Abstract
Aboriginal people often experience poorer health than non-Aboriginal people in Canada because of inequities in socioeconomic circumstances and fewer available health promotion interventions. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) effectively addresses these inequities, providing opportunities for the evaluation and implementation of culturally appropriate prevention programs. In response to the need for measures to document progress and success in CBPR projects, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC, 2005) developed the Community Capacity Building Tool (CCBT). The CCBT documents capacity building in collaborative and community-based research projects. Although recent field tests of the CCBT have been published, its effectiveness in Aboriginal communities and as a longitudinal measure of capacity has not been tested or documented. This research utilizes the CCBT to document the capacity-building achievement of a CBPR project with an Aboriginal community. All nine features on the CCBT showed increased measures of capacity over the study period. Capacity building over the first two years of a First Nations-based participatory research project is documented and challenges in the implementation of the CCBT within a First Nation community are discussed.
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