Influence of participation in a quality improvement collaborative on staff perceptions of organizational sustainability

BACKGROUND: Sustainability capacity (SC), which is an organization’s ability to implement and maintain change, is influenced by internal attributes, environmental contextual influencers, and intervention attributes. Temporal changes in staff SC perceptions, as well as the influence of quality improvement collaborative (QIC) participation, has generally not been explored. This project addresses this gap, measuring staff SC perceptions at four time points (baseline and every 9 months) for clinics participating in an intervention – the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment QIC initiative (called NIATx200). METHODS: A mixed linear model repeated measures analysis was applied to matched staff members (n = 908, representing 2329 total cases) across the evaluation timeframe. Three separate statistical models assessed potential predictors of SC perceptions: Time (Models I-III); NIATx200 intervention, staff job function, and tenure (Models II &III); and NIATx200 participation hours and four organizational variables (Model III). RESULTS: For Model I, staff perceptions of total SC increased throughout most of the study (t(1,4) = − 6.74, p < .0001; t(2,4) = − 3.100, p < .036; t(3,4) = − 0.23, p = ns). Model II did not change Model I’s overall Time effect, but combined NIATx200 services (t = − 2.23, p = .026), staff job function (t = − 3.27, p = .001), and organizational administrators (t = − 3.50, p = .001) were also significantly associated with greater perceptions of total SC. Inclusion of additional variables in Model III demonstrated the importance of a higher participation level (t = − 3.09, p < .002) and being in a free-standing clinic (t = − 2.06, p < .04) on staff perceptions of total SC. CONCLUSION: Although staff exposure to sustainability principals was minimal in NIATx200, staff perceptions about their organization’s SC significantly differed over time. However, an organization’s participation level in a QIC became the principal predictor of staff SC perceptions, regardless of other factors’ influence. Given these findings, it is possible to develop and introduce specific sustainability content within the structure of a QIC to assess the impact on staff SC perceptions over time and the sustainment of organizational change. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00934141. Registered July 6, 2009. Retrospectively registered. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-020-06026-3.