PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of video‐conferencing as a suitable technology for business process reengineering (BPR) training of 12 health sector participants located in Prince Edward Island, Canada.Design/methodology/approachAn action research was adopted. The participants received training from a remote BPR consultant located in Northern Ireland (UK), with the assistance of local moderators. The focus of the study is concerned with the quality of the learning experience and the important role played by local moderators.FindingsOverall, the use of video‐conferencing technology provided a valuable learning experience. It was also cost effective and an efficient use of both the consultant's and the participants' time. A key part of the success of the exercise was the role of one of the local moderators who acted as the “eyes and ears” of the consultant.Originality/valueA general contribution to knowledge is the positioning of the argument developed within the technology diffusion literature. The paper offers important insights into the effective use of video‐conferencing technology for BPR training purposes; and Knipe and Lee's evaluation of a video‐conferencing experiment in terms of the relationship between the human actors at the remote and local sites is discussed and extended.

The rhetoric of crisis in the Canadian Health Care System has created an environment in which the central tenants of health promotion are divided into opposing camps of individual lifestyle practices versus a systems approach to health. A number of frameworks have attempted to bridge together the many components of health promotion theory, but in their design they have continued to reflect the divide between lifestyle and determinants of health perspectives. However, an innovative, collaborative, community-based workshop process has resulted in the development of a framework, called the Circle of Health, that successfully synthesises core elements of both perspectives on theory and practice. This paper situates the development of the Circle of Health in Canada's current healthcare environment and in Canada's dynamic history with health promotion theory and praxis. The authors describe the development and validation of the Circle of Health. The authors conclude with the proposition that the Circle of Health has the potential to serve as a culturally appropriate tool for bridging the distance between lifestyle and systems approaches to emerging healthcare challenges in Canada and internationally.