HealthyPlaces.org > Healthy
Places Framework > Diffusion
System
Diffusion
System
Local service providers have traditionally been
expected to deliver innovative theory-based strategies for
social change that were developed by experts (Baranowski and
Stables, 2000). Governing agencies typically imposed processes
upon local service providers and held them accountable for
delivering these strategies.
Because control flows in a top-down fashion in
this approach, it is considered a centralized strategy diffusion
model (Rogers, 1995). Using top-down strategies may lead to
poor implementation rates (Baranowski and Stables, 2000). One
alternative to the top-down centralized strategy is a decentralized
diffusion system (Rogers, 1995) that provides control, autonomy,
skill building, and healthy norms to the leaders who deliver
the intervention locally.
The system used in the Healthy Places Framework,
referred to as a "Community Hub," typically
consists of leaders and groups connecting and communicating
knowledge across these levels:
- Community Hub
- Change Team
- Healthy Places (Evidence-based Practice in Healthy Places)
The system of nested levels, which can expand
or contract to incorporate as many levels as needed, consists
of teams that have two-way communication between adjacent levels.
To maintain connection between levels, teams on adjacent levels
have at least one member in common.
For example, the director of Communities in Schools,
an organization that operates at the state level, might be
a member of the team at the top level (state and regional leaders
with technical expertise) and a member of a regional team for
Northeast Kansas. At least one member of the Northeast Kansas
team would also be a community leader, perhaps a family physician
working in Shawnee County. Similar connections between adjacent
levels having members in common occur throughout the system.
Having the teams at various levels also allows cross-site collaboration
because the teams gather together peers working in similar
places and situations.
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Click here to learn about how the Healthy Places
Framework works as an operating system to address challenges.
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