An Emergent Network for the Diffusion of Innovations Among Local Health Departments at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Chung, Minwoong ; Dekker, Debra ; Gridley-Smith, Chelsea ; Dearing, James W.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  Communication networks among professionals can be pathways for accelerating the diffusion of innovations if some local health departments (LHDs) drive the spread of knowledge. Such a network could prove valuable during public health emergencies such as the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Our objective was to determine whether LHDs in the United States were tied together in an informal network to share information and advice about innovative community health practices, programs, and policies.
  
  Methods
  
  In January and February 2020, we conducted an online survey of 2,303 senior LHD leaders to ask several questions about their sources of advice. We asked respondents to rank up to 3 other LHDs whose practices informed their work on new public health programs, evidence-based practices, and policies intended to improve community health. We used a social network analysis program to assess answers.
  
  Results
  
  A total of 329 LHDs responded. An emergent network appeared to operate nationally among 740 LHDs. Eleven LHDs were repeatedly nominated by peers as sources of advice or examples (ie, opinion leaders), and 24 acted as relational bridges to hold these emergent networks together (ie, boundary spanners). Although 2 LHDs played both roles, most LHDs we surveyed performed neither of these roles.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Opinion leading and boundary spanning health departments can be accessed to increase the likelihood of affecting the rate of interest in and adoption of innovations. Decision makers involved in disseminating new public health practices, programs, or policies may find our results useful both for emergencies and for practice-as-usual.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Communication Coronavirus Infections COVID-19 Diffusion Of Innovation Evidence-Based Practice Health Information Systems Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Humans Information Dissemination Information Systems Knowledge Bases Quality Improvement SARS-CoV-2

  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 2021; 18
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Pubmed ID:
  33661727
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7938964
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  18
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:293e3a0d0d893bd225fee057b1394bde018942534d99a81af20deb0950d05f4a95407ede1ad8d8f6811b79c8daefd4bbda59e77aa465b5f605f66ef5bdbf920f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/104227/cdc_104227_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 623.71 KB ]