Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study.
Many children globally do not meet government guidelines for daily fruit and vegetable intake, and in New Zealand, adherence to the vegetable intake recommendation is declining. This study aimed to identify systemic barriers to children meeting fruit and vegetable (FV) guidelines and generate sustai...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-01-01
|
Series: | PLoS ONE |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221107 |
id |
doaj-4baca5d1eb4e41a3b618e5bf78ffecb5 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-4baca5d1eb4e41a3b618e5bf78ffecb52021-03-03T19:51:25ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-01148e022110710.1371/journal.pone.0221107Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study.Sarah GerritsenAna Renker-DarbySophia HarréDavid ReesDebbie A RaroaMichele EickstaedtZaynel SushilKerry AllanAnn E BartosWilma E WaterlanderBoyd SwinburnMany children globally do not meet government guidelines for daily fruit and vegetable intake, and in New Zealand, adherence to the vegetable intake recommendation is declining. This study aimed to identify systemic barriers to children meeting fruit and vegetable (FV) guidelines and generate sustainable actions within a local community to improve children's FV intake. A qualitative system dynamics method of community group model building was used. The research team partnered with Healthy Families Waitākere, a Ministry of Health funded prevention initiative, to recruit 17 participants (including students, parents, teachers, community leaders, local retailers and health promoters) from a low-income, ethnically-diverse community in West Auckland, New Zealand. Three group model building workshops were held during which a systems map was created and used to identify actions by considering causal pathways and reinforcing loops in the system. Barriers to children's FV intake identified by participants were the saturation of fast-food outlets in the community and ubiquitous marketing of these products, the high cost of fresh produce compared to fast food, and parents having little time for food preparation plus declining cooking skills and knowledge. Several actions to improve children's FV intake by improving the local food environment were identified, which will be co-designed further and tested by a collaborative group involving community leaders. This project highlights the effectiveness of group model building for engaging a local community in systems change to improve child nutrition, and supplies a blueprint for future qualitative system dynamics research.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221107 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sarah Gerritsen Ana Renker-Darby Sophia Harré David Rees Debbie A Raroa Michele Eickstaedt Zaynel Sushil Kerry Allan Ann E Bartos Wilma E Waterlander Boyd Swinburn |
spellingShingle |
Sarah Gerritsen Ana Renker-Darby Sophia Harré David Rees Debbie A Raroa Michele Eickstaedt Zaynel Sushil Kerry Allan Ann E Bartos Wilma E Waterlander Boyd Swinburn Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study. PLoS ONE |
author_facet |
Sarah Gerritsen Ana Renker-Darby Sophia Harré David Rees Debbie A Raroa Michele Eickstaedt Zaynel Sushil Kerry Allan Ann E Bartos Wilma E Waterlander Boyd Swinburn |
author_sort |
Sarah Gerritsen |
title |
Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study. |
title_short |
Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study. |
title_full |
Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study. |
title_fullStr |
Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: Findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study. |
title_sort |
improving low fruit and vegetable intake in children: findings from a system dynamics, community group model building study. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS ONE |
issn |
1932-6203 |
publishDate |
2019-01-01 |
description |
Many children globally do not meet government guidelines for daily fruit and vegetable intake, and in New Zealand, adherence to the vegetable intake recommendation is declining. This study aimed to identify systemic barriers to children meeting fruit and vegetable (FV) guidelines and generate sustainable actions within a local community to improve children's FV intake. A qualitative system dynamics method of community group model building was used. The research team partnered with Healthy Families Waitākere, a Ministry of Health funded prevention initiative, to recruit 17 participants (including students, parents, teachers, community leaders, local retailers and health promoters) from a low-income, ethnically-diverse community in West Auckland, New Zealand. Three group model building workshops were held during which a systems map was created and used to identify actions by considering causal pathways and reinforcing loops in the system. Barriers to children's FV intake identified by participants were the saturation of fast-food outlets in the community and ubiquitous marketing of these products, the high cost of fresh produce compared to fast food, and parents having little time for food preparation plus declining cooking skills and knowledge. Several actions to improve children's FV intake by improving the local food environment were identified, which will be co-designed further and tested by a collaborative group involving community leaders. This project highlights the effectiveness of group model building for engaging a local community in systems change to improve child nutrition, and supplies a blueprint for future qualitative system dynamics research. |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221107 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT sarahgerritsen improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT anarenkerdarby improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT sophiaharre improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT davidrees improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT debbieararoa improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT micheleeickstaedt improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT zaynelsushil improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT kerryallan improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT annebartos improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT wilmaewaterlander improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy AT boydswinburn improvinglowfruitandvegetableintakeinchildrenfindingsfromasystemdynamicscommunitygroupmodelbuildingstudy |
_version_ |
1714825294518419456 |