The journal of primary prevention
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Multicenter Study
Community and team member factors that influence the early phase functioning of community prevention teams: the PROSPER project.
This research examines the early development of community teams in a specific university-community partnership project called PROSPER (Spoth et al., Prev Sci 5:31-39, 2004). PROSPER supports local community teams in rural areas and small towns to implement evidence-based programs intended to support positive youth development and reduce early substance use. ⋯ Findings indicate that community demographics (poverty), perceived community readiness, characteristics of local team members (previous collaborative experience) and attitudes toward prevention played a substantial role in predicting the quality of community team functioning 6 months later. EDITORS' STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS: The authors identify barriers to successful long-term implementation of prevention programs and add to a small, but important, longitudinal research knowledge base related to community coalitions.