The study was conducted approximately 3 years into the integration process to examine the organisations
success in managing the change process. One third of the staff participated in one of seven focus groups or
seven semi-structured interviews. In total, 64 staff drawn from both the community and acute services were
asked about their experience of the integration process and their perceptions of its successes and failures.
Approximately forty percent of the sample were acute care staff with the remainder from community health. The
Directors, both past and present, and the original project manager and project officer were interviewed. All
interviews and focus group sessions were tape recorded with participant consent.