Twelve staff members from three community centers providing services to people with mental retardation were interviewed about the implementation of a new approach to service delivery that utilized Essential Lifestyle Planning. Findings indicate that although the innovation proposed and the technical assistance provided were quite similar, the outcomes varied greatly across the three sites. By highlighting the importance of organizational factors, such as timing and agency supports, these findings provide direction for future training and technical assistance activities of those who promote change in service-delivery philosophy and methods.

This article presents a conceptual model explaining classroom dynamics, to guide novice nurse educators who are transitioning from clinical practice to academia. A critical review using Fawcett's framework for analysis and evaluation of nursing models was used to develop the Houser gear conceptual model, a visual representation of a gear system depicting the fundamental relationship among nursing leadership, active teaching strategies, and student learning outcomes.