Measuring the diffusion of innovative health promotion programs

Area of Science:

• Health Promotion
• Program Dissemination
• Diffusion of Innovation Theory

Background:

• Health promotion programs proven effective in initial settings are often transferred to new locations.
• Program transference can be conceptualized using diffusion of innovation theory.
• Existing research lacks sequential measurement tools for the diffusion process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate questionnaires for measuring the successful dissemination of health promotion programs.
• To apply diffusion of innovation theory to guide program transference.
• To sequentially measure the stages of the diffusion process.

Main Methods:

• Development of six distinct questionnaires: Organizational Climate, Awareness-Concern, Rogers's Adoption Variables, Level of Use, Level of Success, and Level of Institutionalization.
• Utilizing existing theories and previous research to ensure construct validity.
• Application of instruments in a study of health promotion/tobacco prevention curricula diffusion in North Carolina junior high schools.

Main Results:

• The developed instruments successfully measure the extent of health promotion program dissemination.
• The questionnaires are being effectively used to study the diffusion of curricula in junior high schools.
• The instruments demonstrate construct validity, being grounded in established theories.

Conclusions:

• The six questionnaires provide a novel, sequential method for measuring the stages of health promotion program diffusion.
• The instruments are valuable tools for assessing the successful transference and institutionalization of programs in new settings.
• This research addresses a gap in measuring the sequential diffusion process of health promotion initiatives.