How is the positive deviance approach applied within healthcare organizations? A systematic review of methods used

Excerpt

The positive deviance approach assumes that solutions to problems faced by a community already exist. Despite experiencing similar constraints as others, ‘positive deviants’ succeed through their deviant behaviour. Originating within international public health, positive deviance has increasingly been applied to healthcare and a four stage process has been proposed to do this. Positive deviants are firstly identified using routinely collected data then their success strategies are explored. These strategies are then tested in a more representative sample and disseminated to the community. The quality of current healthcare applications however varies and different study designs and methods are used at each stage of the process. This review aims to investigate the extent to which these stages are adopted in healthcare research. …