2012 · Study · English
Sustainability of the Communities That Care Prevention System by Coalitions Participating in the Community Youth Development Study
Gloppen, K. M., Arthur, M. W., Hawkins, J. D., & Shapiro, V. B.
Gloppen, K. M., Arthur, M. W., Hawkins, J. D., & Shapiro, V. B. (2012). Sustainability of the Communities That Care Prevention System by Coalitions Participating in the Community Youth Development Study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 51(3), 259–264. doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.12.018
Summary
Sustainability study from the Community Youth Development Study, the community-randomised trial of Communities That Care, examining how coalitions fared roughly 20 months after study-provided funding and support ended. Coalition leaders were interviewed in 2007 and 2009, and the coalitions' continuing activities were rated against benchmarks for CTC phases 2 to 5. Eleven of the 12 CTC coalitions still existed 20 months after funding ended; they continued to score significantly higher on the benchmarks than coalitions in control communities, and two thirds still had paid staff. The authors conclude that the coalitions maintained relatively high implementation fidelity on their own, while a downward trend in some benchmarks suggests that continued high-quality training and technical assistance would help sustain a science-based approach to prevention. For European funders the study provides a rare empirical answer to the question of what happens to a CTC coalition once the start-up grant runs out.