Because they often set out with a guarantee of only short-term funding, many community partnerships will face a threat to their sustainability almost as soon as the first money runs out. Research into the factors that enable some coalitions and partnerships to meet the challenge when others fail is limited. This study begins to fill this gap in…

Smoking remains prevalent among US youth despite decades of antismoking efforts. Effects from exposure to prevention programs at national level may provide informative and compelling data supporting better planning and strategy for tobacco control. A national representative sample of youth 12-17 years of age from the National Survey on Drug Use…

Presents an early stage evaluation model that was used to provide a framework to assess the effectiveness of three comprehensive community initiative projects that were put in place in Nebraska in 1996. Discusses challenges of evaluating these broadbased initiatives and pitfalls in using result-based performance evaluation. (SLD)

Describes experiences in developing a multi-program economic evaluation and costing study of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), a widely studied community mental health treatment model. The project description shows how the worlds of research and service delivery can collaborate to come to symbiotic resolutions. (Author/SLD)

Outcomes evaluation of community partnerships to prevent substance abuse poses many methodological challenges. The nine articles of this special section illustrate the variety of approaches evaluators have taken to studies that are often complicated because of small sample size. (SLD)

Describes a community needs assessment conducted by Native Americans with Native Americans, for Native Americans in the Northeastern United States. Focus groups and interviews were used to gather the data, which pointed to the importance of including culture as a foundation for everything in the community. (Author/SLD)

Describes methods to increase the participation of Hispanic residents in community-needs-assessment activities based on experiences in Tampa (Florida). Includes suggestions for defining the population, estimating population size, selecting the sample, translating instruments, and administering the survey. (SLD)

Used qualitative methods to describe beliefs and attitudes related to evaluation and to identify factors influencing evaluation capacity, based on interviews with 61 community-based organizations, 9 health departments, and 28 technical assistance providers. Identified four factors influencing evaluation behavior, and developed a model describing…

The client-oriented cost outcome system provides feedback of the data generated by or for consumers for a program's service planning, delivery, quality control, and evaluation methods. The system's conceptual framework, necessary components, and applications for program evaluation are described. Available from: Pergamon Press, Maxwell House,…

Differences in service utilization and community adjustment between community mental health clients with and without substance abuse disorders were studied for 144 outpatients, 37 percent of whom had dual diagnoses (substance abuse and another disorder). The association of dual diagnosis with poor service use and adjustment is discussed. (SLD)

The core roles involved in the evaluation of a community program called "Alternatives," aimed at safer use of medications by seniors, are described as community developer, research/evaluator, and community committee. The types of roles, the conflicts among them, and their positive interactions have implications for other field evaluations. (SLD)

Research on vocational services for methadone clients is reviewed, and preliminary results of an evaluation of a training and employment program for 249 methadone treatment clients in 3 community-based programs are presented. Results suggest the usefulness of vocational services in increasing training access and use. (SLD)

A strategy proposed by T. Cook and D. Campbell (1979) was used to investigate attrition in a community-based literacy program, focusing on 287 Head Start families. Data revealed interactions among intervention program-centered characteristics and person-centered characteristics that have implications for study validity and generalizability.…

This article describes a series of qualitative and quantitative methods used to test a community-based needs assessment model that is bias free and socioculturally relevant for indigenous populations. Results of a field test involving 100 Hawaiian children are presented, and implications for policy formation are discussed. (SLD)

This pretest/posttest study used two samples of injecting drug users (184 from street outreach and 103 from a methadone program) to assess drug use and human immunodeficiency virus risk practices. The improvement in risk behaviors at posttest suggests that intervention programs were agents of change. (SLD)