Using diffusion of innovation theory to encourage the development of a children's health collaborative: a formative evaluation.

Lack of access to medical treatment and preventive care affects children's immediate well-being and has potential consequences for their physical and mental health as adults. The study reported in this article was designed as the first step in planning and implementing a communitywide collaborative to work on improving medically underserved children's access to health care. The authors used a two-stage, census-based telephone survey to identify organizations that had contact with medically underserved children and to assess the status of the communication network among them. Although there was no evidence of a functioning network among the organizations surveyed, the results indicate that many organizations would participate in a network and suggest possibilities for developing an organizational network aimed at improving children's access to health care.