Telephone change agentry in the diffusion of a program for the elderly

This study examined whether telephone consultation subsequent to a five-day workshop on a geriatric program, called milieu therapy, affected the degree to which the adoption of the program took place in nursing homes and hospitals. The nursing homes and hospitals were randomly assigned to three conditions: 1) no person receiving telephone consultation, 2) one person receiving consultation, and 3) three persons receiving consultation. Following the workshop, five consultations were conducted, one every two weeks. Three months after the last consultation a follow-up questionnaire was used to examine the extent of the program adoption. Results of the study indicated that telephone consultation did not create more information dissemination. However, the consultation with three persons 1) enhanced the inclusion of more staff in the planning groups, 2) supported low social status staff in taking leadership roles, and 3) included more staff from various work areas into the planning group. No significant difference could be found for the degree of actual program adoption that took place within the organizations.