2021 · Study protocol · English

Study protocol: a non-randomised community trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the Communities That Care prevention system in Germany

Röding, D., Soellner, R., Reder, M., Birgel, V., Kleiner, C., Stolz, M., Groeger-Roth, F., Krauth, C., & Walter, U.

Röding, D., Soellner, R., Reder, M., Birgel, V., Kleiner, C., Stolz, M., Groeger-Roth, F., Krauth, C., & Walter, U. (2021). Study protocol: a non-randomised community trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the Communities That Care prevention system in Germany. BMC Public Health, 21(1), Article 1927. doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11935-x

Summary

Protocol for CTC-EFF, the first controlled study of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Communities That Care in Germany, published in BMC Public Health. Twenty-one communities in CTC phases 1–3 and 21 individually matched comparison communities were recruited for a non-randomised trial. Long-term outcomes are measured through a cohort of Grade 5 pupils surveyed biennially on antisocial behaviour, substance use, well-being and risk and protective factors, plus biennial cross-sectional surveys in Grades 6, 8, 10 and 11. Short-term system-change outcomes come from a cohort of ten key informants per community (adoption of science-based prevention, collaboration, community support, norms), a biennial inventory of all ongoing prevention programmes including costs and implementation, and annual surveys of CTC board members on team functioning and coalition capacity. Analysis uses mixed models to estimate the average treatment effect and mediation analyses to test the logic model. The trial is registered as DRKS00022819 and is the study on which European evidence for CTC will most directly rest.