Indigenous food sovereignty assessment-A systematic literature review.

AIMS: The aims of this systematic review were to (1) identify assessment approaches of Indigenous food sovereignty using the core domains of community ownership, inclusion of traditional food knowledge, inclusion/promotion of cultural foods and environmental/intervention sustainability, (2) describe Indigenous research methodologies when assessing Indigenous food sovereignty. METHODS: Guided by Indigenous members of the research team, a systematic review across four databases (Medline, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO) was performed. Studies in any language from 1996 to 2021, that used one or more of the core domains (identified from a recent scoping review) of community ownership, inclusion of traditional food knowledge, inclusion/promotion of cultural foods and environmental/intervention sustainability were included. RESULTS: From 20 062 records, after exclusion criteria were applied, 34 studies were included. Indigenous food sovereignty assessment approaches were mostly qualitative (n = 17) or mixed methods (n = 16), with interviews the most utilised (n = 29), followed by focus groups and meetings (n = 23) and validated frameworks (n = 7) as assessment tools. Indigenous food sovereignty assessment approaches were mostly around inclusion of traditional food knowledge (n = 21), or environmental/intervention sustainability (n = 15). Community-Based Participatory Research approaches were utilised across many studies (n = 26), with one-third utilising Indigenous methods of inquiry. Acknowledgement of data sovereignty (n = 6) or collaboration with Indigenous researchers (n = 4) was limited. CONCLUSION: This review highlights Indigenous food sovereignty assessment approaches in the literature worldwide. It emphasises the importance of using Indigenous research methodologies in research conducted by or with Indigenous Peoples and acknowledges Indigenous communities should lead future research in this area.

Effectiveness of nutrition interventions in Australian secondary schools: A systematic review.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: Dietary intake of Australian adolescents is suboptimal. Schools are an ideal setting for health promotion initiatives to develop healthy lifestyle behaviours among adolescents. However, we do not know which nutrition-focused, school-based interventions are effective at improving health outcomes in adolescents in Australia. Therefore, the aim was to evaluate the effect of nutrition interventions on health outcomes in Australian secondary school students. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, ERIC and Informit were systematically searched on 4th November 2022. Studies in any language evaluating nutrition interventions implemented in Australian secondary schools were included. Studies evaluating interventions conducted in primary schools or outside the school setting were excluded, as were any grey literature, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Screening and data extraction were performed in duplicate. Quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. RESULTS: Thirteen studies (n = 27 224) reporting on nutrition interventions implemented in Australian secondary schools were included. Studies were conducted in five different states and a capital territory within Australia and were mostly randomised controlled trials. Most studies reported a significant improvement on nutrition-related health outcome measures (dietary behaviour n = 6, nutritional knowledge and attitudes n = 4 and anthropometric n = 1). CONCLUSIONS: This review found limited studies reporting on nutrition interventions in Australian secondary schools. However, most were shown to be effective in improving nutrition-related health outcomes. SO WHAT?: Since there were limited studies in peer-reviewed journals, more research in this area is needed to confirm the effectiveness of nutrition interventions in Australian secondary schools and to assess long-term effects on student's health outcomes.

The role of communication, building relationships, and adaptability in non-profit organisational capacity for health promotion.

While the non-profit sector has an integral role in health promotion, it is unclear whether these organisations have the capacity for health promotion activities. This study aims to explore and describe capacity changes of a non-profit organisation during a 3-year community-based nutrition intervention. The non-profit organisation, with 3800 members throughout the state of Queensland, Australia, implemented a 3-year food literacy community-based intervention. A team of qualified nutritionists delivered the program in partnership with community-based volunteers. A separate aim of the intervention was to build capacity of the non-profit organisation for health promotion. A qualitative study was undertaken, using a social constructivist approach to explore organisational capacity changes longitudinally. All relevant participants including non-profit executive managers and nutritionists were included in the study (100% response rate). Data collection included semi-structured interviews (n = 17) at multiple intervention time points and document analysis of program newsletters (n = 21). Interview transcripts and documents were analysed separately using thematic and content analysis. Codes and categories between the two data sources were then compared and contrasted to build themes. Organisational capacity was predominantly influenced by four themes; 'communicating', 'changing relationships', 'limited organisational learning' and 'adaptability and resistance to change'. Developing non-profit organisational health promotion capacity appears to require focusing on fostering communication processes and building positive relationships over time. Capacity changes of the non-profit organisation were not linear, fluctuating across various levels over time. Assessing non-profit organisational capacity to implement community interventions by describing adaptive capacity, may help researchers focus on the processes that influence capacity development.

How do students offer value to organisations through work integrated learning? A qualitative study using Social Exchange Theory.

Learning through work is a common feature of preparing health professionals for practice. Current understandings of work-integrated learning or a 'work-based placement', focus on students being consumers of experiences rather than providing a reciprocal benefit to the organisation in which they are placed. More nuanced understanding of the ways that students can offer value to organisations may provide new opportunities and increased capacity for workplace learning. This study drew on Social Exchange Theory to explore the perceived value and benefits of work-integrated learning experiences to the organisations in which students are placed. The focus was on population health placements undertaken by dietetics students at a large Australian university. An interpretive approach was employed with interviews with placement educators and document analysis of student-generated products from their placement. Seventeen of 20 eligible placement educators were interviewed, with interview data coded using thematic framework analysis. These data were supported with document analysis of student scientific posters completed as part of assessment to develop themes which were interpreted with social exchange theory. Three themes were identified: (1) students add to the organisation's capacity, (2) benefits outweigh time cost of planning and supervising and (3) explicitly valuing students for their contributions may build trust and further potentiate bi-directional benefits. Results suggest that student placements can add value to organisations. This reciprocity of benefits should be communicated to all stakeholders involved in the university-community collaboration, including students. Social exchange theory sensitised researchers to nuanced findings that may support the translation of these study findings to other student work-integrated learning settings.

Workplace programmes for supporting breast-feeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To critically review the literature regarding workplace breast-feeding interventions and to assess their impact on breast-feeding indicators. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. Electronic searches for workplace intervention studies to support breast-feeding, without restriction on language or study design, were performed in PubMed, CENTRAL, CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science, Business Source Complete, ProQuest-Sociology and ProQuest-Social Science to 13 April 2020. A meta-analysis of the pooled effect of the programmes on breast-feeding indicators was conducted. RESULTS: The search identified 10 215 articles; fourteen studies across eighteen publications met eligibility criteria. Programmes were delivered in the USA (n 10), Turkey (n 2), Thailand (n 1) or Taiwan (n 1). There were no randomised controlled trials. The pooled OR for exclusive breast-feeding at 3 or 6 months for participants v. non-participants of three non-randomised controlled studies was 3·21 (95 % CI 1·70, 6·06, I2 = 22 %). Despite high heterogeneity, other pooled outcomes were consistently in a positive direction with acceptable CI. Pooled mean duration of breast-feeding for five single-arm studies was 9·16 months (95 % CI 8·25, 10·07). Pooled proportion of breast-feeding at 6 months for six single-arm studies was 0·76 (95 % CI 0·66, 0·84) and breast-feeding at 12 months for three single-arm studies was 0·41 (95 % CI 0·22, 0·62). Most programmes were targeted at mothers; two were targeted at expectant fathers. CONCLUSIONS: Workplace programmes may be effective in promoting breast-feeding among employed mothers and partners of employed fathers. However, no randomised controlled trials were identified, and better-quality research on workplace interventions to improve breast-feeding is needed.

Evaluation of health promotion capacity gains in a state-wide rural food literacy intervention.

Building capacity to enhance health promotion intervention effectiveness is a desirable, difficult to achieve and rarely evaluated aspect of practice. This study aims to describe an approach for evaluating capacity building embedded in a state-wide health promotion intervention that had a primary objective of enhancing food literacy and secondary objective of building health promotion capacity. The multi-strategy rural food literacy intervention centred on a group-based, hands-on learning workshop series. Logic modelling, theory of change and clarification of the explicit assumption of the intervention relating to food literacy and capacity building objectives were documented. The evaluation approach acknowledged the complexity of the intervention that utilised a food literacy program as a vessel to build relationships, enabling capacity-building strategies over time, and used multiple forms of data to measure organisational, community and individual capacity. The development of a shared mixed method program evaluation plan was achieved through co-design. One-hundred and twenty-two peer facilitators were trained across 81 communities and reported increases in self-efficacy for health promotion action. There was broad awareness and support for the program within the organisation. The majority (75%) of communities involved in the intervention implemented at least one health promotion activity, demonstrating some health promotion capacity gain.

Capacity assessment in public health community interventions: a systematic review.

The importance of building capacity in community interventions is well recognized. There is general agreement about the determinants of capacity and a range of existing capacity frameworks, however there is limited evidence or consistency in practice around assessing capacity in community interventions. The aim of this review was to describe how capacity is assessed in community interventions. A systematic review of the literature across four databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Sociological Abstracts) was performed. Studies in English from 2000 to 2017, that explicitly described how capacity building processes were assessed in community interventions in healthy populations, were included. All types of empirical study designs were eligible. From 2596 records, after exclusion criteria were applied, 19 studies were included describing 12 different capacity assessment frameworks or tools. Seventeen studies assessed capacity processes by measuring individual capacity domains in community interventions. The most common capacity domains used to assess capacity were leadership, resources, partnerships and intelligence. The majority (n = 15) of studies used qualitative or mixed methods designs to measure capacity. Nine studies assessed capacity prospectively over time; three before/after and six multiple times during the intervention. Five studies assessed capacity retrospectively. The findings suggest that capacity assessment may need to remain context specific and flexible in order to capture the ever-changing nature of capacity building over time. Future research should explore the utility of theoretical adaptive capacity assessment guidelines that direct researchers and practitioners when describing capacity assessment in community interventions.