Policy change to create supportive environments for physical activity and healthy eating: which options are the most realistic for local government?

Objective: To progress nutrition policy change and develop more effective advocates, it is useful to consider real-world factors and practical experiences of past advocacy efforts to determine the key barriers to and enablers of nutrition policy change. The present review aimed to identify and synthesize the enablers of and barriers to public policy change within the field of nutrition. Design: Electronic databases were searched systematically for studies examining policy making in public health nutrition. An interpretive synthesis was undertaken. Setting: International, national, state and local government jurisdictions within high-income, democratic countries. Results: Sixty-three studies were selected for inclusion. Numerous themes were identified explaining the barriers to and enablers of policy change, all of which fell under the overarching category of 'political will', underpinned by a second major category, 'public will'. Sub-themes, including pressure from industry, neoliberal ideology, use of emotions and values, and being visible, were prevalent in describing links between public will, political will and policy change. Conclusions: The frustration around lack of public policy change in nutrition frequently stems from a belief that policy making is a rational process in which evidence is used to assess the relative costs and benefits of options. The findings from the present review confirm that evidence is only one component of influencing policy change. For policy change to occur there needs to be the political will, and often the public will, for the proposed policy problem and solution. The review presents a suite of enablers which can assist health professionals to influence political and public will in future advocacy efforts.

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“…• In these networks, identify the least resistant part of the policy nexus and target evidence towards this entry point (21) .…”

Section: Be Visiblementioning

confidence: 99%

Playing the policy game: a review of the barriers to and enablers of nutrition policy change

Cullerton

Donnet

Lee

et al. 2016

Public Health Nutr.

136

196

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“…Although quite an extensive range of the literature has explored determinants of ISC [e.g., [5,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], fewer studies [e.g., [6,[21][22][23][24][25] have documented how ISC is perceived (qualitatively) by officials from different policy sectors (i.e., expertise fields) within local government. Because this type of ISC is critical for making local integrated public health policies [4], the present study aims to answer the following research question: What are the views of public officials on the determinants of intersectoral collaboration (ISC) within local governments during the preparation phase of implementing ISC within their organization?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local government officials׳ views on intersectoral collaboration within their organization – A qualitative exploration

Hendriks

Jansen

Gubbels

et al. 2015

Health Policy and Technology

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Objectives: Intersectoral collaboration (ISC) is defined as collaboration between health and non-health local government officials and is a prerequisite for the development of integrated policies that address wicked public health problems. In practice, ISC has proven to be problematic, which might be related to differing views on ISC across various policy sectors. Therefore, our objective was to explore local officials' views on ISC.Methods: We interviewed 19 officials responsible for 10 different policy sectors within two small-sized municipal governments within one Dutch region. We asked interviewees about ISC facilitators and barriers and categorized them in the theory-based concepts of capability, opportunity and motivation.Results: Capability was found to be determined by the ability to share policy goals, and was more likely to increase when officials had greater motivation to continue learning. Interviewees in both municipalities expected that flatter organizational structures and coaching of officials by managers could improve ISC opportunities. When the perceived feasibility of ISC and professional autonomy was low, motivation to learn new ISC skills was low.

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“…Public health professionals can have an influential role in advocating and shaping evidence-based health policy and programmes (17) . However, in the GCC, where limited evidence is available on the determinants of physical inactivity and prolonged sitting (18)(19)(20) , an understanding of public health professionals' perceptions of the influences on these health risk behaviours is required in order to inform relevant public health initiatives.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing physical inactivity in Omani adults: perceptions of public health managers

Mabry

Al-Busaidi

Reeves

et al. 2013

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To explore barriers and solutions to addressing physical inactivity and prolonged sitting in the adult population of Oman. Design: Qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews that took place from October 2011 to January 2012. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling. Data collection and analysis was an iterative process; later interviews explored emerging themes. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed and continued until data saturation; this occurred by the tenth interviewee. Thematic content analysis was carried out, guided by an ecological model of health behaviour. Setting: Muscat, Oman. Subjects: Ten mid-level public health managers. Results: Barriers for physical inactivity were grouped around four themes: (i) intrapersonal (lack of motivation, awareness and time); (ii) social (norms restricting women's participation in outdoor activity, low value of physical activity); (iii) environment (lack of places to be active, weather); and (iv) policy (ineffective health communication, limited resources). Solutions focused on culturally sensitive interventions at the environment (building sidewalks and exercise facilities) and policy levels (strengthening existing interventions and coordinating actions with relevant sectors). Participants' responses regarding sitting time were similar to, but much more limited than those related to physical inactivity, except for community participation and voluntarism, which were given greater emphasis as possible solutions to reduce sitting time. Conclusions: Given the increasing prevalence of chronic disease in Oman and the Arabian Gulf, urgent action is required to implement gender-relevant public health policies and programmes to address physical inactivity, a key modifiable risk factor. Additionally, research on the determinants of physical inactivity and prolonged sitting time is required to guide policy makers.

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Policy change to create supportive environments for physical activity and healthy eating: which options are the most realistic for local government?

Cited by 105 publications

References 25 publications

Playing the policy game: a review of the barriers to and enablers of nutrition policy change

Playing the policy game: a review of the barriers to and enablers of nutrition policy change

Local government officials׳ views on intersectoral collaboration within their organization – A qualitative exploration

Addressing physical inactivity in Omani adults: perceptions of public health managers

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