Process-evaluation of the implementation of a collaborative community programme for health, safety and talent development in youth

Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 182, pp. 108779

Abstract

• The program led to collaboration and shared goal setting in community stakeholders. • Guidance of the municipality was appreciated by community stakeholders. • Choosing suitable interventions was seen as hard despite the integrated action plans. • Engagement of the community network, also during the COVID-pandemic, was a challenge. • Insight in the output and keeping other municipal teams aligned was challenging. We studied the implementation-process of a collaborative community programme (Promising Neighbourhoods) aiming to impact local urban youths’ health, safety and talent development and reduce socio-economic health differences. In three intervention neighbourhoods categorised as having low, middle and high problem severity an integrated community programme was implemented and compared to three similar neighbourhoods in which the programme was not implemented. Due to contextual challenges, some of the planned data-collection activities could not be executed as intended. We compensated for this by collecting alternative data where possible. Focus group discussions were conducted among community stakeholders and additionally among municipal professionals on the operational and tactical-strategic level to examine ‘assets’, ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’ of the programme. Questionnaires were administered among parents of 0- to 12-year-olds to additionally examine care or service use and participation in organized activities by parents and children. Project documentation was additionally used to examine ‘outputs’. Focus group data was analysed using thematic coding, The parent questionnaire was analysed for differences post-implementation using chi-square tests and project documentation was summarized descriptively. The intervention neighbourhoods formed broad networks of stakeholders and succeeded in shared priority setting and developing integrated action plans. Choosing interventions for implementation was regarded as difficult. Data-gathering by the municipality on intervention implementation and reach of target populations did not succeed. The parent-questionnaire yielded no differences between intervention and comparator neighbourhoods in care or service use or participation in organized activities in parents or children post-implementation. The findings indicate that although some steps in the programme seemed successful, future research with a longer follow-up period that take into account the challenges to study the implementation-process of integrated community programmes is needed to further elucidate which components contribute to the desired impact of integrated community programmes.

Authors 5

1. Mirte Boelens Aachen Department of Public Health and Primary Care/Health Campus The Hague

   Leiden University Medical Center · Erasmus MC

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Public Health and Primary Care/Health Campus The Hague, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands

   Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, PO BOX 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands

2. Harrie Jonkman

   Verwey Jonker Institute

   Affiliation as printed

   Verwey-Jonker Institute, Utrecht, the Netherlands

3. Clemens M. H. Hosman

   Radboud University Nijmegen · Gemeente Rotterdam · Maastricht University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Clinical Psychology, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

   Department of Health Promotion, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands

   Department of Social Development, City of Rotterdam, PO BOX 70032, 3000 LP Rotterdam, the Netherlands

   Hosman Prevention and Innovation Consultancy, Berg en Dal, the Netherlands

4. Hein Raat

   Erasmus MC

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, PO BOX 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands

5. Wilma Jansen corresponding

   Gemeente Rotterdam · Erasmus MC

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, PO BOX 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands

   Department of Social Development, City of Rotterdam, PO BOX 70032, 3000 LP Rotterdam, the Netherlands

   Hosman Prevention and Innovation Consultancy, Berg en Dal, the Netherlands