Urban Religious Congregations' Responses to Community Substance Use: An Exploratory Study of Four Cases.

Faith-based drug treatment programs are common, and many are implemented through congregations; however, little is documented about how congregations conceptualize and implement these programs. We use case study analysis to explore congregational approaches to drug treatment; qualitative findings emerged in three areas: (1) religion's role in congregational responses to substance use, (2) relationships between program participants and the broader congregation, and (3) interactions between congregational programs and the external community. Congregational approaches to drug treatment can be comprehensive, but work is needed to evaluate such efforts.

Use of CAHPS patient experience survey data as part of a patient-centered medical home quality improvement initiative.

Objective: To describe how practice leaders used Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Clinician and Group (CG-CAHPS) data in transitioning toward a patient-centered medical home (PCMH).

Study Design: Interviews conducted at 14 primary care practices within a large urban Federally Qualified Health Center in California.

Participants: Thirty-eight interviews were conducted with lead physicians (n=13), site clinic administrators (n=13), nurse supervisors (n=10), and executive leadership (n=2).

Social entrepreneurship in religious congregations' efforts to address health needs.

Purpose: Examine how religious congregations engage in social entrepreneurship as they strive to meet health-related needs in their communities.

Design: Multiple case studies.

Setting: Los Angeles County, California.

Religious congregations' involvement in HIV: a case study approach.

Comparative case studies were used to explore religious congregations' HIV involvement, including types and extent of activities, interaction with external organizations or individuals, and how activities were initiated and have changed over time. The cases included 14 congregations in Los Angeles County representing diverse faith traditions and races-ethnicities. Activities fell into three broad categories: (1) prevention and education; (2) care and support; and (3) awareness and advocacy.

Learning about urban congregations and HIV/AIDS: community-based foundations for developing congregational health interventions.

Religious congregations are important community institutions that could help fight HIV/AIDS; however, barriers exist, particularly in the area of prevention. Formative, participatory research is needed to understand the capacity of congregations to address HIV/AIDS. This article describes a study that used community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches to learn about congregation-sponsored HIV activities.

Assessing the implementation of the chronic care model in quality improvement collaboratives.

Objective: To measure organizations' implementation of Chronic Care Model (CCM) interventions for chronic care quality improvement (QI).

Data Sources/study Setting: Monthly reports submitted by 42 organizations participating in three QI collaboratives to improve care for congestive heart failure, diabetes, depression, and asthma, and telephone interviews with key informants in the organizations.

Study Design: We qualitatively analyzed the implementation activities of intervention organizations as part of a larger effectiveness evaluation of yearlong collaboratives.