Change can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing. The most important thing about change is that to be aware that there may be resistance and arguments, but if you have the backing of the community with change, you will have an easier process. According to (Dean-Coffey and Farkouh, 2012) The Dimensions of Change Model has five discrete dimensions that are imperative to change. They are structure, parameters, intention, approach, and most importantly participants.
The structure portion is important because it gives you an idea of what the change may be as well as the funding for the change. Next you have the parameters portion. This is important because this will focus on the size of the population you will be working with, the length of how long the plan will take, and implications that it may have. Then you have the intention portion. This is important because you need to know what your expected outcomes are regardless if they change along the way or not. It is important to have some sort of expectations and be able to effectively document the on going change. Once of these things have been established you move forward with the approach portion. Approach is important because you need to know who, what, and how this change is going to be initiated. The final portion of the model would be the participants. According to (Dean- Coffey and Farkouh, 2012) you need to know the role of the residents, the skills needed to empower the change that has been initiated, and if there are outsiders needed for this change. It is apparent that change is a step by step process that takes effective planning, research, and communication. When change is needed in a particular community there tends to be a consistent amount of movement within the community of people coming and going. With a constant turn-over of community members initiating chance can be a difficult task if you cannot get enough people on board with the change initiative. Being able to identify and move forward and develop a plan based on this model would be imperative for effective change.
I felt this article was relevant to our class because we are currently in the communities trying to find an effective intervention. This is a model I think we can all follow within our community work to help develop effective and efficient change.
Do you feel this model would be effective within the community you are working in? What model are you using for your community? What do you like and dislike about this model and if you have never used it would you consider using it to initiate change?
This is a very thought provoking. Now that we have interview to understand the community, it sounds like we need to interview some more to listen to people's ideas for solutions. Bring our thought list? Take an informal, convenient sample survey? Cheri
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