2013 · Study · English
Sustained Effects of the Communities That Care System on Prevention Service System Transformation
Rhew, I. C., Brown, E. C., Hawkins, J. D., & Briney, J. S.
Rhew, I. C., Brown, E. C., Hawkins, J. D., & Briney, J. S. (2013). Sustained Effects of the Communities That Care System on Prevention Service System Transformation. American Journal of Public Health, 103(3), 529–535. doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2011.300567
Summary
Sustainability paper in the American Journal of Public Health testing whether CTC’s effects on the community prevention system persisted 1.5 years after study funding stopped. In the trial, 24 US towns were randomised to CTC or control; 928 key community leaders were interviewed at one to four waves between 2001 and 2009, while training and technical assistance in the CTC towns ran from 2003 to 2008. In 2009, leaders in CTC communities reported higher adoption of a science-based approach to prevention and wanted a larger share of funding directed to prevention than leaders in control communities. CTC communities also showed a steeper increase over time in community norms against adolescent drug use and in adoption of the science-based approach. The authors conclude that CTC produced an enduring transformation of the prevention-system constructs its theory of change identifies, which might in turn produce long-term reductions in youth problem behaviour. Evidence for European funders that system change outlives the grant period.