Development and piloting of a Community of Practice to support learning and improvement in health promotion practice within NSW local health districts

Abstract

Objectives: Health Promotion Units within New South Wales (NSW) local health districts (LHDs) frequently collaborate and test innovations to address priority health issues or approaches to support the implementation of a health promotion program in a way that is consistent with the needs, resources, and contexts of their regions. Compatible with learning health system approaches, mechanisms to facilitate the exchange of evidence and expertise across districts could improve the collective impact of health promotion services across the state. This study aimed to assess the use of a health promotion Community of Practice (CoP) model as a strategy to achieve this. Type of program or service:This paper describes and shares experiences from the development and piloting process of a CoP model to develop, evaluate and exchange learnings to improve approaches to support the adoption of an effective healthy lunchbox program ('SWAP IT') across three LHDs. Results:The functioning of the CoP was supported by key activities, funding and infrastructure over a 2-year period, including: planning workshops, implementation check-ins, and knowledge exchange meetings. A particularly novel aspect of the CoP was the harmonised evaluation of different, locally developed strategies to facilitate program adoption across the three LHDs. The alignment of the CoP with local and state priorities, as well as the operation of the CoP in a way that did not impose significant time demands, was seen as important for the sustainability of the CoP.

A collaborative network trial to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation strategies to maximise adoption of a school-based healthy lunchbox program: A study protocol

“…The University of Newcastle will be responsible for facilitating trial workshops, ethics, data collection, monitoring and quality assurance, data management and analysis. A Community of Practice, established in the pilot, (21) will also be employed to support the interpretation of trial results and pooled analyses, exchange tacit knowledge and experience and identify opportunities for improvement.…”

“…In this context, and drawing on research design principles of Master Protocols and prospective meta-analysis methodology,(19) a pilot collaboration was formed that networked three LHDs and the University of Newcastle (National Centre of Implementation Science) (20) to undertake a harmonised evaluation of strategies used within each LHD to support the adoption of the SWAP IT program, and to share learning from these evaluations across participating LHDs. (21) The collaboration was supported by shared implementation strategy development processes, governance structures, centralised data collection infrastructure, and a community of practice. (21) Whilst collaboration across and exibility within LHDs for the implementation of various health promotion programs has occurred routinely amongst NSW LHDs over time, a formal evaluation of such a collaborative approach had not been undertaken.…”

“…(21) The collaboration was supported by shared implementation strategy development processes, governance structures, centralised data collection infrastructure, and a community of practice. (21) Whilst collaboration across and exibility within LHDs for the implementation of various health promotion programs has occurred routinely amongst NSW LHDs over time, a formal evaluation of such a collaborative approach had not been undertaken. The pilot found the collaborative model was highly acceptable to all parties,(21) and strategies employed yielded signi cant, but contextually dependent improvements in program adoption.…”

A collaborative network trial to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation strategies to maximize adoption of a school-based healthy lunchbox program: a study protocol

“…Following demonstration of the effectiveness and acceptability of the SWAP IT program, ( 10 , 11 ) three Local Health Districts (LHDs) from across New South Wales (NSW), Australia, expressed interest in supporting the implementation of this program in their LHD. In this context, and drawing on research design principles of Master Protocols and prospective meta-analysis methodology, ( 24 ) a pilot collaboration was formed that networked three LHDs and the University of Newcastle (National Centre of Implementation Science) ( 25 ) to undertake a harmonized evaluation of strategies used within each LHD to support the adoption of the SWAP IT program, and to share learning from these evaluations across participating LHDs ( 26 ). The collaboration was supported by shared implementation strategy development processes, governance structures, centralized data collection infrastructure, and a community of practice ( 26 ).…”

“…In this context, and drawing on research design principles of Master Protocols and prospective meta-analysis methodology, ( 24 ) a pilot collaboration was formed that networked three LHDs and the University of Newcastle (National Centre of Implementation Science) ( 25 ) to undertake a harmonized evaluation of strategies used within each LHD to support the adoption of the SWAP IT program, and to share learning from these evaluations across participating LHDs ( 26 ). The collaboration was supported by shared implementation strategy development processes, governance structures, centralized data collection infrastructure, and a community of practice ( 26 ). While collaboration across and flexibility within LHDs for the implementation of various health promotion programs has occurred routinely among NSW LHDs over time, a formal evaluation of such a collaborative approach had not been undertaken.…”