%0 Journal Article %J Prev Sci %D 2014 %T Variation in the sustained effects of the Communities That Care prevention system on adolescent smoking, delinquency, and violence. %A Oesterle, Sabrina %A Hawkins, J D %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Abbott, Robert D %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Adolescent Health Services %K Alcohol Drinking %K Community Health Services %K Female %K Humans %K Juvenile Delinquency %K Male %K Prevalence %K Program Evaluation %K Risk Factors %K Risk Reduction Behavior %K Smoking %K United States %K Violence %X

Communities That Care (CTC) is a universal, science-based community prevention system designed to reduce risk, enhance protection, and prevent adolescent health and behavior problems community wide. CTC has been found to have sustained effects on cigarette use and delinquent and violent behaviors in grade 10 in a panel of 4,407 students followed from fifth grade in a community randomized trial. It is important to test variation in the effects of this prevention system designed to be universal to understand for whom it is most effective and whether it fails to produce change or leads to iatrogenic effects for certain categories of individuals. The present study examined variation in the sustained effects of CTC on tenth-grade cigarette use and delinquent and violent behaviors. Interaction analyses suggest that the effect of CTC did not differ between those who had high levels of community-targeted risk factors at baseline or had already engaged in substance use, delinquency, or violence at baseline versus those who had not. Although CTC reduced the prevalence of both girls' and boys' problem behaviors, the effect on delinquency was marginally (pā€‰=ā€‰0.08) larger for boys than for girls.

%B Prev Sci %V 15 %P 138-45 %8 2014 Apr %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1007/s11121-013-0365-y %0 Journal Article %J Am J Community Psychol %D 2012 %T Sustaining the utilization and high quality implementation of tested and effective prevention programs using the Communities That Care prevention system. %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Hanson, Koren %A Briney, John S %A Hawkins, J D %K Community Networks %K Health Care Surveys %K Humans %K Interviews as Topic %K Models, Organizational %K Preventive Medicine %K Quality of Health Care %K United States %X

This paper describes the extent to which communities implementing the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system adopt, replicate with fidelity, and sustain programs shown to be effective in reducing adolescent drug use, delinquency, and other problem behaviors. Data were collected from directors of community-based agencies and coalitions, school principals, service providers, and teachers, all of whom participated in a randomized, controlled evaluation of CTC in 24 communities. The results indicated significantly increased use and sustainability of tested, effective prevention programs in the 12 CTC intervention communities compared to the 12 control communities, during the active phase of the research project when training, technical assistance, and funding were provided to intervention sites, and 2 years following provision of such resources. At both time points, intervention communities also delivered prevention services to a significantly greater number of children and parents. The quality of implementation was high in both conditions, with only one significant difference: CTC sites were significantly more likely than control sites to monitor the quality of implementation during the sustainability phase of the project.

%B Am J Community Psychol %V 49 %P 365-77 %8 2012 Jun %G eng %N 3-4 %R 10.1007/s10464-011-9463-9 %0 Journal Article %J Prev Sci %D 2010 %T Testing the universality of the effects of the communities that care prevention system for preventing adolescent drug use and delinquency. %A Oesterle, Sabrina %A Hawkins, J D %A Fagan, Abigail A %A Abbott, Robert D %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Female %K Humans %K Juvenile Delinquency %K Male %K Preventive Health Services %K Substance-Related Disorders %X

Universal community-oriented interventions are an important component in the prevention of youth health and behavior problems. Testing the universality of the effects of an intervention that was designed to be universal is important because it provides information about how the program operates and for whom and under what conditions it is most effective. The present study examined whether the previously established significant effects of the universal, community-based Communities That Care (CTC) prevention program on the prevalence of substance use and the variety of delinquent behaviors held equally for boys and girls and in risk-related subgroups defined by early substance use, early delinquency, and high levels of community-targeted risk at baseline. Interaction analyses of data from a panel of 4,407 students followed from Grade 5 to Grade 8 in the first randomized trial of CTC in 12 matched community pairs suggests that CTC reduced students' substance use and delinquency equally across risk-related subgroups and gender, with two exceptions: The effect of CTC on reducing substance use in 8th grade was stronger for boys than girls and the impact of CTC on reducing 8th-grade delinquency was stronger for students who were nondelinquent at baseline.

%B Prev Sci %V 11 %P 411-23 %8 2010 Dec %G eng %N 4 %R 10.1007/s11121-010-0178-1