It is becoming increasingly common for community teams or coalitions to implement programming for children and families designed to promote positive youth development and prevent adolescent problem behaviors. However, there has been only limited rigorous study of the effectiveness of community teams' programming efforts to produce positive…

Community coalitions (CCs) have labored with some difficulty to demonstrate empirical evidence of effectiveness in preventing a wide range of adolescent problem behaviors. Training and technical assistance (TA) have been identified as important elements in promoting improved functioning of CCs. A reliable, valid, and inexpensive method to assess…

A study reviewed outcomes of 34 prevention programs for children (ages 5-18) that produce improvements in specific psychological symptoms or in factors directly associated with increased risk for child mental disorders. The following conclusions can be made regarding validated programs: (1) short-term preventive interventions produce time-limited…