Date of Award

8-9-2014

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Abraham H. Wandersman

Abstract

Lack of widespread implementation of evidence-based prevention programs has been identified as a major challenge in the field of teen pregnancy prevention. Technical assistance (TA) has been proposed as an important strategy for building capacity of the community organizations to implement evidence-based strategies. This study uses data from an evaluation of Promoting Science-Based Approaches to Teen Pregnancy Prevention, a five-year project conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to build the capacity of organizations to implement teen pregnancy prevention programs using science-based approaches. Data from 104 organizations nested within 12 TA providing organizations were analyzed using OLS regression and multilevel models to address three research questions focused on the behavioral engagement of participants in the TA process, dosage of TA provided, and how these related to change in capacity over time. While the hypothesized relationships were not found between these factors, several findings provide useful information for further research and practice. It was found that behavioral engagement in TA is best predicted by previous behavioral engagement in the TA process. Participating organizations reported greater innovation-specific capacity over time but TA dosage (average hours of TA per month of participation) was not related to the amount of change in capacity. Finally, across all three research questions, the different organizations and/or individuals providing TA influenced behavioral engagement in TA, dosage of TA, and growth in capacity over time.

Rights

© 2014, Jennifer L. Duffy

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