PD Winter 2020 Newsletter Release

Twice a year, the PD team releases a free email newsletter with the most up-to-date news, publications, and events from around the world for the PD community. Facilitators and case studies from a variety of fields are featured.

Our newsletter is created for both experienced practitioners and new followers of the PD initiative to showcase different ways of implementing PD in local communities and encourage discussion within the PD community.

Sign up for our bi-annual PD newsletters simply by scrolling to the bottom of any page of the PD website and entering your name and email address in the “Newsletter” section.

View the new PD Winter 2020 Newsletter here!

If you missed our past newsletters, you can view them here: Newsletters

Subscribe to PD’s RSS feeds here:

Updated Healthcare and Education Bibliographies

Healthcare

- “A multicenter study using positive deviance for improving hand hygiene compliance”, American Journal of Infection Control

- "A Practical Guide to Using the Positive Deviance Method in Health Services Research", Adam Rose, Megan McCullough

- “A qualitative positive deviance study to explore exceptionally safe care on medical wards for older people”, Ruth Baxter, Natalie Taylor, Ian Kellar, Rebecca Lawton

- “Advancing Antimicrobial Stewardship in Outpatient Dialysis Centers Using the Positive Deviance Process”, Claire M. Lindberg, Curt C. Lindberg, Erika M.C. D’Agata, Brandi Esposito

- “Beyond the hospital infection control guidelines: a qualitative study using positive deviance to characterize gray areas and to achieve efficacy and clarity in the prevention of healthcare-associated infections”, Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control

- “Combating infections at Maine Medical Center: Insights into complexity- informed leadership from positive deviance”, Curt Lindberg, Marguerite Schneider

- “Deconstruction of central line insertion guidelines based on the positive deviance approach—Reducing gaps between guidelines and implementation: A qualitative ethnographic research”, Ricky CohenI, Anat Gesser-Edelsburg, Arvind Singhal, Shmuel Benenson, Allon E. Moses

- “Deviance and resistance: Malaria elimination in the greater Mekong subregion”, Chris Lyttleton

- “Embracing collaboration: A novel strategy for reducing bloodstream infections in outpatient hemodialysis centers”, Curt Lindberg DMan, MHA, Gemma Downham MPH, CIC, Prucia Buscell BA, Erin Jones RN, BSN, Pamela Peterson RN, BSN, MBA, Valdis Krebs MLIR

-"Exploring the Concept and Use of Positive Deviance in Nursing", JC Gary

- "Front-line ownership: generating a cure mindset for patient safety", Healthcare Papers

- “How can Competing Patient Safety Improvement Strategies Be Harnessed”, Jon C. Lloyd

- “Identification of outliers and positive deviants for healthcare improvement: looking for high performers in hypoglycemia safety in patients with diabetes”, Brigid Wilson, Chin-Lin Tseng, Orysya Soroka, Leonard M. Pogach and David C. Aron

- “Identifying positive deviants in healthcare quality and safety: a mixed method study”, Jane K O’Hara, Katja Grasic, Nils Gutacker, Andrew Street, Robbie Foy, Carl Thompson, John Wright and Rebecca Lawton

- “Impact of the Positive Deviance Approach on Breastfeeding Practices among Tribal Pregnant Women: A Before – After Intervention Study”, Abhay Srivastava, Kanchan Gwande, Sudip Bhattacharya, Vijay Kumar Singh

- "La déviance positive : analyse de concept selon l'approche évolutionniste de Rodgers", Josiane Letourneau, Marie Anderson, Chantal Caux, Lucie Richard

- "Learning from positively deviant wards to improve patient safety: an observational study protocol", Ruth Baxter, Natalie Taylor, Ian Kellar, Rebecca Lawton

- “Letting Go, Gaining Control: Positive Deviance and MRSA Prevention”, Curt Lindberg, Patricia Norstrand, Mark T Munger, Christine DeMarsico, Prucia Buscell

- “Positive deviance: A program for sustained improvement in hand hygiene compliance”, American Journal of Infection Control

- “Positive Deviance: A Non-Normative Approach to Health and Risk Messaging”, Arvind Singhal and Lucia Dura

- “Positive Deviance Inquiry of Breastfeeding in Egypt”, Ayah Ebada Sarhan

- “Reducing Bloodstream Infections in an Outpatient Hemodialysis Center — New Jersey, 2008–2011”, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

- “Research in action: using positive deviance to improve quality of health care”, Elizabeth H Bradley, Leslie A Curry, Shoba Ramanadhan, Laura Rowe, Ingrid M Nembhard and Harlan M Krumholz

- “The positive effects of an antimicrobial stewardship program targeting outpatient hemodialysis facilities”, The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

- "The wicked question answered: positive deviance delivers patient-centered care." JC Gary

- “Using Positive Deviance and the Citizen Healthcare Model for Coproduction”, Cole Zanetti DO, MPH; Preeti Zanwar, PhD, MPH, MS; Aimee Valeras, PhD

- "Value co-creation in healthcare through positive deviance", Cole Zanetti, Natalie Taylor

- “What Distinguishes Top-Performing Hospitals in Acute Myocardial Infarction Mortality Rates?”, Annals of Internal Medicine

Education

- "Alcohol use among university students: Considering a positive deviance approach", Journal of Health Psychology

- “Communicative practices that lead to the timely high school graduation against all odds: A positive deviance inquiry in a predominantly Hispanic school”, Patricia T Ayala

- “Conditions forschool success of young people from marginalized Roma communities (MRC)in Slovakia -Looking for Positive Deviance practices”, Estera Kövérová, Slovak Academy of Sciences and Comenius University

- Evaluation of the Hawai’i Parental Information and Resource Center, Christina Simmons

- "From hunger aid to school reform: An interview with Jerry Sternin”, Journal of Staff Development

- From the Inside Out: Learning from the Positive Deviance of Your Organization, Joan Richardson

- "How schools amplify psychological resilience - A Positive Deviance Inquiry", Centrum Media & Gezondheid

- Kau Project Update, Christina Simmons

- “Life without boundaries: A positive deviance inquiry of communication behaviors that influence academic success of learning-disabled university students”, Davi Israel Kallman

- “Positive Deviance and Teacher Change”, Sharon Carroll Quinteroa

- "Positive deviance: learning from positive anomalies", Paul G. LeMahieu, Lee E. Nordstrum, Dick Gale

- “Quality Improvement Approaches: Positive Deviance”, Sarah McKay

- “Social-emotional learning practices: insights from outlier schools”, Taylor N. Allbright, Julie A. Marsh, Kate E.  Kennedy, Heather J. Hough, Susan McKibben

- "Teaching and Learning about Positive Deviance: Boosting Metacognition to Grasp Global Communication Theory and Practice", Jean Claude Kwitonda, Arvind Singhal

- "Transformer l'education..par la deviance positive", Arving Singhal 

- "Transforming Education from the Inside-Out: Positive Deviance to Enhance Learning and Student Retention”, Arvind Singhal 

- "Uncovering Innovations that are Invisible in Plain Sight: A Call to Amplify Positive Deviance in School Settings”, Arvind Singhal

- "What Explains Enhanced Psychological Resilience of Students at VMBO schools in the Netherland: The Positive Deviance Approach in Action”, Dr. Martine Bouman, Dr Sarah Lubjunh, Dr. Arvind Singhal

- “Why some children from poor families do well—an in-depth analysis of positive deviance cases in Singapore”, Chelsea J.Y. Cheang and Esther C. L. Goh

To see the complete list of publications on Positive Deviance, see our Publications page.

PD Spring 2019 Newsletter Release

Twice a year, the PD team releases a free email newsletter with the most up-to-date news, publications, and events from around the world for the PD community. Facilitators and case studies from a variety of fields are featured.

Our newsletter is created for both experienced practitioners and new followers of the PD initiative to showcase different ways of implementing PD in local communities and encourage discussion within the PD community.

Sign up for our bi-annual PD newsletters simply by scrolling to the bottom of any page of the PD website and entering your name and email address in the “Newsletter” section.

View the new PD Spring 2019 Newsletter here!

If you missed our past newsletters, you can view them here: Newsletters

Creating a Positive Deviance Research Collaborative

Authors: Lucia Dura, Mohammad Shafique, and Monique Sternin

Overview

Compelling evidence that the Positive Deviance approach achieves superior results in many field-based projects and social interventions increases the need for building a strong foundation for disseminating and furthering the success. Within the last decade, there has been a sharp increase of PD concept based research in many fields. The primary aim of the PD Research Collaborative (PDRC) is to inform future projects, help scale up the PD approach worldwide and set up curricula for training in PD research. While PDRC does not aim to be a research center, we are committed to supporting research, which involve PD conceptions. As the theory of PD evolves and the collective vision matures, the scientific foundation, its concepts and strategies have to be systematized and evaluated to meet the burden of proof with funding entities and broad professional organizations and to amplify the impact of PD.

In the short term, PDRC proposes to inform PD studies conducted by others, establish a broader evidence base, review the efficacy and effectiveness of the PD approach, focusing on PD programming sectors selected by the PDRC members, such as public and global health, health care, education and possibly some frontier sectors such as climate change and population migration. The PDRC will encourage research that assesses and improves the quality of project implementation and diffusion. The PDRC will also develop a mechanism to integrate lessons learned from external studies (dissertations, research) using PD approach for behavior and social change.

The PDRC believes that high quality, user-driven diffusion of the PD approach can be maximized when the following conditions exist:

  • Open sharing of the PD approach in a way that minimizes barriers to usage

  • Successful applications of PD that are measurable and observable

  • A well-trained cadre of PD practitioners and PD trainees

  • Evidence that highlights the effectiveness of the PD approach

  • A community of practice where researchers can share information including unsuccessful applications or moments of "failing foward , reflect on and improve their work  

  • Greater brand name recognition to gain entry to arenas where PD can be most helpful

  • Robust curriculum and training programs

A first step in developing a sound research and evaluation strategy is to bring together individuals or organizations “PD researchers and practitioners” who have or are studying it now, as well as those who have used it in research.

1. Potential tasks for PDRC: 

  • To bring together researchers who have used the PD concept in their research, and enable them to share their lessons learned

  • To document the innovative methods such and tools the researchers have used in their research design and discuss the implications for research, especially the contribution PD research can bring to the fields of behavior and social change

  • To articulate PD Research and Evaluation questions and identify source of funding for PD research

  • To explore and identify potential research media outlets, scientific journals, or international development publications who might be interested in PD research

  • To connect the PD research collaborative with appropriate organizations doing research in behavior and organizational/social change

  • To collect the voices of PD practitioners and to respond on these questions with the aim of continuing to refine the PD methodology

  • To initiate the campaign to bring PD methodology development on the spotlight and engage potential stakeholders

2. Evaluation component of PDRC:

  • Harness existing research resources and PD research expertise.

  • Identify academic institutions interested in doing evaluation work on specific projects.

  • Build a dynamic PD research community of practice, identify professional societies, publishers, journals and media outlets interested in promoting PD.

  • Develop a network of PD evaluators to learn from the experience of doing PD informed project evaluation, exploring specific challenges such as assessing behavior and social change, the role of the PD process in promoting sustainable change, etc.

3. Potential PD Research Questions:

Given the fairly large number of research topics that have used the PD concept and inquiry as a research tool, a review of these papers may be of interest to the PDRC R and the larger research community. Here are some questions that come to mind:

  1. Is the PD process/methodology efficient at solving complex problems that require behavior or/and organizational or social change?

  2. Is the PD process/methodology effective at engaging communities and promoting behavioral and social change? And how? 

  3. How does its effectiveness compare to other asset-based behavior and social change methods? (What is different about the PD approach?)

  4. What are the pros/cons of PD research design and intervention methodology in comparison to currently widely employed methodologies?

  5. How PD studies translate into sound programmatic applications? (such as the case in applying the PD concept  to reduction of childhood malnutrition)

  6. What are some unique patterns about the PD research format?

  7. What is the importance of innovative qualitative methods to explore PD strategies and behaviors? In particular which methods and tools are being used and found appropriate and successful in exploring PD strategies…. 

If you are a researcher who has previously used the PD concept and approach and would like to contribute to the development of PDRC, please fill out this short questionnaire! 

New Spring 2019 PD Publications