Stages of Concern About the Innovation: a seven-stage developmental taxonomy of individuals' concerns¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The Stages of Concern (SoC) framework, one dimension of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, classifies the concerns a person may have about involvement with an innovation into seven ordered stages. As the paper states, "Seven Stages of Concern (SoC) a person might have about his/her involvement with an innovation were identified (see Figure 1)": 0 Awareness, 1 Informational, 2 Personal, 3 Management, 4 Consequence, 5 Collaboration, and 6 Refocusing. The stages incorporate Fuller's three levels of self, task, and impact concerns, and cover the span "from little awareness of the innovation, to initial use, to experienced use, and on to consideration of replacement." Change facilitators use the taxonomy to diagnose where individuals stand and to time staff development accordingly.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Assessment of individuals' or groups' concerns (via questionnaire, open-ended statements, or conversation) to locate their current stage profile before designing interventions

Constraints¶

• The model's intent is not to force change; it is intended to make the process of change easier and more efficient for those involved

Target Learners¶

• teachers and staff in schools and serving agencies undergoing innovation implementation

Target Learning Objectives¶

• understanding and responding to individuals' concerns during adoption of an educational innovation

Claims¶

• Concerns Develop Developmentally Early Concerns Resolve First [+M]
• Mismatched Staff Development Intensifies Personal Concerns [+M]

Related Theories¶

• Cbam Stages Of Concern Model
• Concerns-Based Adoption Model: change is a process with diagnosable dimensions
• Intervention Taxonomy: six levels of change-facilitating interventions from incident to policy
• Fuller Teacher Concerns Theory: three developmental stages of teacher concerns
• Levels of Use of the Innovation: an eight-level behavioral framework for individual innovation implementation
• Seven Stages of Concern About an Innovation

Examples¶

• Match the form and content of staff development interventions to clients' assessed Stages of Concern
• Use individual and group Stages of Concern data to tailor inservice and training decisions

Key Sources¶

• Hall, Gene E.; Rutherford, William L. (1983). Client Concerns: A Guide to Facilitating Institutional Change. Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, The University of Texas at Austin. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED251728