Can an Infusion of Federal Funds Result in Sustainable Projects? An Evaluation of Suicide Prevention Programs

• DOI: 10.1007/s10935-017-0489-0
• Publication Date: 2017-09-11T14:53:32Z
• Authors: Robert Apsler; Scott W. Formica; Ellyson Stout; Colleen Carr
• Keywords: Mindset; Health psychology; Federal funds

Our study evaluated the sustainability of programs in early cohorts of the Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) Memorial Act suicide prevention initiative, a major source of federal funding for youth suicide prevention among states, tribes, and institutions of higher education. We sought to: (1) determine whether suicide prevention activities initiated with federal support continued after funding ended, and (2) identify factors associated with sustainment. Thirty-three sites between 1 and 4 years beyond the end of their GLS grant participated in a retrospective online survey assessing their level of suicide prevention activity 1 year before, during (during-GLS), and 1 year after funding (after-GLS). We found that, on average, sites experienced a 6% decrease in their overall level of activity from during- to after-GLS. Twenty-two (67% of responding sites) exhibited either an increase in activity level or no more than a 10% decline from during- to after-GLS periods. After-GLS scores for the 11 remaining sites declined between 11 and 30% from their during-GLS levels. We conducted semi-structured follow-up interviews with 13 sites that successfully continued their activities to explore factors associated with sustainability. Our findings indicate that program actions in the during-GLS period associated with sustainability included: maintaining a sustainability mindset, developing and nurturing partnerships and relationships, embedding services in parent organizations, pursuing new and diversified funding, and implementing cost-reduction efficiencies. Actions in the after-GLS period associated with sustainability included: obtaining funding from other sources, reconfiguring, and maintaining continuous leadership.