Co-creating tools to support transformation of the food retail environment

What is the issue?

Australia’s new National Obesity Strategy (2022-23) recognises the need to “Build a healthier food system that favours the production, processing and distribution of healthy food and drinks” to improve population wellbeing. Several Australian states have already introduced policies to support healthier food retail including within healthcare, however, these have not achieved large-scale transformation of food environments. Barriers to large-scale transformation include the lack of adequate implementation support such as stakeholder involvement in development, and evaluation of its role and importance.

How will the project address the issue?

This partnership project with Health & Wellbeing Queensland and the Nourish Network will co-create tools supporting retailers, health promotion practitioners and other stakeholders to improve the healthiness of food retail environments in healthcare settings such as hospital cafeterias at scale. It will test existing co-created tools and training (a Retailer Toolkit and Practitioner Toolkit) in the Queensland context, and assess implementation outcomes (e.g. feasibility and acceptability) in their healthcare settings.

What are the expected outcomes?

This project will create and test targeted, easy-to-use and accessible tools and training materials to support practitioners and retailers in shifting to healthier food environments. We will develop a best practice co-creation approach for healthy food retail implementation tools and explore end-user perceptions of the process to inform future tool development.

What is the relevance for policy and practice?

The project will have immediate impact to strengthen prevention systems, as well as engaging established policy and practice networks for knowledge mobilisation and uptake of the tool package nationally.