Diffusion of Naturopathic State Licensing in the United States and Canada

Abstract

State licensing of naturopathic medicine is currently in the middle of the early majority stage of diffusion. This research found that licensing is occurring in a contagious manner; therefore, spatial proximity is an important determinant in predicting new adopters. Using the proportion of licensed neighbors to al neighbors as a measure for spatial proximity and the S-shaped curve, the remaining early majority and the first half of the late majority states and provinces were predicted. Lobbyists and recruiters might use this information to allocate resources to early majority states first.