The power of a collaborative relationship between technical assistance providers and community prevention teams: A correlational and longitudinal study

Abstract

Background Historically, effectiveness of community collaborative prevention efforts has been mixed. Consequently, research has been undertaken to better understand the factors that support their effectiveness; theory and some related empirical research suggests that the provision of technical assistance is one important supporting factor. The current study examines one aspect of technical assistance that may be important in supporting coalition effectiveness, the collaborative relationship between the technical assistance provider and site lead implementer. Methods Four and one-half years of data were collected from technical assistance providers and prevention team members from the 14 community prevention teams involved in the PROSPER project. Results Spearman correlation analyses with longitudinal data show that the levels of the collaborative relationship during one phase of collaborative team functioning associated with characteristics of internal team functioning in future phases. Conclusions Results suggest that community collaborative prevention work should consider the collaborative nature of the technical assistance provider – prevention community team relationship when designing and conducting technical assistance activities, and it may be important to continually assess these dynamics to support high quality implementation.

Developing an Evidence-Based Technical Assistance Model: a Process Evaluation of the National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Child, Youth, and Family Mental Health

“…Previous research has also emphasized the importance of considering the degree to which TA support is offered in a way that is proactive, timely, and tailored to unique stakeholder needs, strengths, and resources. 5,8,21 These characteristics of effective TA underscore the importance of considering various "outer setting" variables that commonly influence implementation outcomes. For example, the political environment, economic trends, funding resources, and connections across government and nongovernment agencies influence implementation, and also should be considered by TA providers as they tailor their efforts to support implementation efforts.…”

“…For example, several research teams have found TA to be linked with positive implementation team functioning and enhanced staff skills. 5,26 Bryson and Ostmeyer found that a combination of focused trainings and follow-up coaching sessions were associated with enhanced staff skills in implementing programs for children with autism spectrum disorder. 26 Recent studies have suggested that the impact of TA is at least partially dependent on the degree to which specific support is both timely and tailored to the unique needs of stakeholders.…”

“…Chilenski and colleagues found that levels of collaboration among TA providers and prevention team members during one phase of program implementation were associated with more positive team functioning in later phases. 5 A related study focused on collaborative relationships among TA providers and community prevention teams over time. Chilenski and colleagues found that levels of collaboration were relatively high during the planning phase of a community prevention project, decreased during implementation, and then increased again during the sustainability phase.…”

“…31 Furthermore, the findings of the current study are consistent with the work of Le and colleagues, who suggest that TA providers must consider how systems-level outer setting factors interact with inner setting characteristics such as available resources, prioritization of goals, group culture, and organizational readiness to impact the unique needs of different members of the behavioral health workforce. 5,6,9,31,32 An awareness of these and other contextual factors may help TA providers understand strengths and constraints of the service delivery systems in which TA recipients are embedded, and this will allow them to tailor TA efforts accordingly. 32 Within the field of behavioral health, TA providers should attend to the intersection of inner and outer setting variables that ultimately impact implementation.…”

“…In recent years, TA provision has become a common component of the implementation process for a wide variety of youth-focused federal, state-and community-based initiatives spawning a small but growing body of literature focused on evaluating and identifying characteristics of effective TA. [5][6][7][8][9][10] There has been growing interest in studying how to use training and TA to support implementation of specific evidence-based practices, and also an emerging dialog about how best to use TA to improve the overall functioning of larger organizations and systems. Moreover, there has been consistent interest in ensuring that TA systems themselves are based on comparative effectiveness research.…”