Work

Exploring organizational readiness for the early adoption of a digital obesity prevention program in Swedish child healthcare: an observational prospective study

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Despite the emphasis on organizational readiness in implementation science, there is limited empirical data supporting its role in implementation practice. This study aimed to (a) assess dimensions of organizational readiness at implementation start of an evidence-based digital health promotion and obesity prevention program in Swedish child healthcare (MINISTOP) and (b) investigate the associations between assessed readiness dimensions and the adoption of MINISTOP. METHODS: In this observational prospective study, all 135 child healthcare nurses from 48 Swedish child healthcare centers involved in the large-scale implementation of MINISTOP in 2023 were invited to participate. Organizational readiness, conceptualized as a multidimensional construct reflecting individual and collective aspects of readiness, was measured at baseline (n = 83 nurses from 37 centers) using the six-dimension E-Ready questionnaire. Adoption of MINISTOP was assessed at 19 weeks through registration data (i.e., the number of families who gained access to MINISTOP). Descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were employed to describe organizational readiness, while negative binomial regression was used to analyze associations between the E-Ready dimensions and adoption. RESULTS: Nurses reported a high degree of readiness for the conditions for change at the workplace, individual conditions for change and workplace attitudes dimensions, a medium degree of readiness for the perceived support among the management dimension, and a low degree of readiness for the readiness among colleagues and perceived consequences on status quo dimension. No statistically significant associations were found between E-Ready's dimensions and adoption. Nevertheless, positive estimates were observed for readiness among colleagues (IRR = 1.1, p = 0.05) and conditions for change at the workplace (IRR = 1.1, p = 0.08). CONCLUSION: No statistically significant associations were identified between organizational readiness and adoption. The findings illustrate the complexity of organizational readiness as a construct, while the positive estimates observed for collective aspects of readiness suggest that their potential relationship with adoption warrants further investigation. Longitudinal studies using repeated assessments are needed to clarify how organizational readiness relates to implementation outcomes over time. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.

Source: BMC Health Services Research

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-15953-6