2026 · Study · English
Early Effects of Communities That Care on System Transformation: a Non-randomized Community Trial in Germany
Röding, D., von Holt, I., Decker, L., Walter, U.
Röding, D., von Holt, I., Decker, L., Walter, U. (2026). Early Effects of Communities That Care on System Transformation: a Non-randomized Community Trial in Germany. Prevention Science. doi.org/10.1007/s11121-026-01961-9
Summary
Non-randomised community trial (2020–2023; DRKS00022819) testing whether the system-level effects seen in the US Community Youth Development Study replicate in Germany, under the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-two a-priori matched community pairs in four federal states were enrolled and key informants were surveyed twice in an open-cohort design (318 respondents from 18 intervention and 11 comparison communities). Outcomes were adoption of a science-based approach to prevention (primary), cross-sector collaboration and collaboration on concrete prevention activities, analysed in three-level mixed models and extended to account for the uneven implementation progress across intervention communities. Compared with comparison communities, the primary outcome and prevention collaboration showed no significant change and cross-sector collaboration declined non-significantly; implementation progress was unrelated to any outcome, and sensitivity analyses on panel and non-imputed data agreed. The authors conclude that no system-transformation effect was detectable and recommend longer follow-up given how little implementation was possible during the pandemic. Previously circulated as a preprint.