Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

Knowledge translation and exchange for obesity prevention
Potential facilitators for KTE : existing relationships
with decision makers, expertise in understanding
and working with research evidence.
Potential barriers to KTE : may have few links with
decision makers, practice and community, lack of
support to participate in KTE activities beyond the
scope of funded research activities, limited capacity
in KTE.
Practice
What k nowledge i s h eld: i mplicit and e xplicit
Important KTE mechanisms: working as a broker
between researchers and communities, using
research evidence to inform decision making,
working with government to help drive practice -
relevant research, undertaking evaluation of
programs/practice to inform the evidence base.
Potential facilitators for KTE : existing networks and
partnerships (e.g., relationship with community).
Potential barriers to KTE : time, resources, workforce
not skilled in KTE.
Community
What k nowledge i s h eld: p rimarily i mplicit
Important KTE mechanisms: informing research and
policy that will improve health outcomes.
Potential facilitators for KTE : existing advocacy networks
or identity/consumer groups.
Potential barriers to KTE : disconnected or excluded
from research-policy-practice interchange.
Knowledge t ranslation in a ction:
t ranslation into p ractice
To explain the pathways of KTE the following two
case studies provide an overview of how these processes
can work. The case studies provide bona fide
examples for childhood obesity prevention.
Case s tudy — obesity p revention for
Pacific Island c hildren
The Pacific Islands hold some of the highest rates of
obesity in the world. In these regions, technical agencies,
especially SPC ( Secretariat of the Pacific
Community ), WHO and UNICEF work to disseminate
and share information with local stakeholders to
distribute the best approaches and methods based on
the latest research. This process of translating knowledge
is very important because most of the technical
staff in - country have almost no access to scientific
journals, and it is, therefore, almost impossible for
them to keep up to date with current research and
research findings. The technical agencies act as knowledge
brokers, passing on relevant information to local
stakeholders and giving them the opportunity to make
more informed decisions.
The geographical location of communities in the
Pacific Islands proves difficult for agencies to remain
in frequent face to face contact with the local stakeholders.
To ensure continual relevant and timely
advice, SPC have set up an email - based information
group for their multi - sectoral groups of informed
stakeholders. The stakeholders receive current evidence
on new and emerging projects in a brief weekly
email and a quarterly newsletter containing user -
friendly reviews of specific topics and training/workshops.
Each of these resources contains information
that is relevant to the needs of the specific regions they
are working with.
In - country staff also have the opportunity to
contact the agencies for advice. For example, many
enquiries to a SPC nutrition adviser include requests
for information about the most effective strategies to
assess childhood obesity, and whether these were relevant
for Pacific Island children. The SPC nutrition
adviser then follows a process of giving individual
advice then relaying information already stored in the
email - based information and quarterly newsletters. A
simple summary or factsheet of the evidence is then
provided so they can work toward making a more
informed decision for their community.
Case s tudy 2 — “ Streets a head ” an
i nitiative to s upport c hildren to g et a ctive
in t heir n eighborhoods
Over the past two decades, there has been a decline in
the number of children who walk or cycle to school.
Despite most children living within 2 km of their
school, a large proportion now make the journey by
car. The primary reason for this trend is perceived
safety issues (including road safety and neighborhood
safety). In turn, this has led to increased traffic
congestion and limited opportunities for children to
travel around their neighborhoods independently.
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