WHO Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, Deakin University, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2010 Aug 31;10:522. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-522.
Obesity is a major public health issue; however, only limited evidence is available about effective ways to prevent obesity, particularly in early childhood. Romp & Chomp was a community-wide obesity prevention intervention conducted in Geelong Australia with a target group of 12,000 children aged 0-5 years. The intervention had an environmental and capacity building focus and we have recently demonstrated that the prevalence of overweight/obesity was lower in intervention children, post-intervention. Capacity building is defined as the development of knowledge, skills, commitment, structures, systems and leadership to enable effective health promotion and the aim of this study was to determine if the capacity of the Geelong community, represented by key stakeholder organisations, to support healthy eating and physical activity for young children was increased after Romp & Chomp.
A mixed methods evaluation with three data sources was utilised. 1) Document analysis comprised assessment of the documented formative and intervention activities against a capacity building framework (five domains: Partnerships, Leadership, Resource Allocation, Workforce Development, and Organisational Development); 2) Thematic analysis of key informant interviews (n = 16); and 3) the quantitative Community Capacity Index Survey.
Document analysis showed that the majority of the capacity building activities addressed the Partnerships, Resource Allocation and Organisational Development domains of capacity building, with a lack of activity in the Leadership and Workforce Development domains. The thematic analysis revealed the establishment of sustainable partnerships, use of specialist advice, and integration of activities into ongoing formal training for early childhood workers. Complex issues also emerged from the key informant interviews regarding the challenges of limited funding, high staff turnover, changing governance structures, lack of high level leadership and unclear communication strategies. The Community Capacity Index provided further evidence that the project implementation network achieved a moderate level of capacity.
Romp & Chomp increased the capacity of organisations, settings and services in the Geelong community to support healthy eating and physical activity for young children. Despite this success there are important learnings from this mixed methods evaluation that should inform current and future community-based public health and health promotion initiatives.
ANZCTRN12607000374460.
肥胖是一个主要的公共卫生问题；然而，目前只有有限的证据表明有效的方法可以预防肥胖，特别是在儿童早期。Romp & Chomp 是在澳大利亚吉朗市开展的一项针对 12000 名 0-5 岁儿童的全社区肥胖预防干预措施，其目标群体是 12000 名 0-5 岁儿童。该干预措施以环境和能力建设为重点，我们最近发现，干预后超重/肥胖儿童的比例较低。能力建设是指发展知识、技能、承诺、结构、系统和领导力，以实现有效的健康促进，本研究的目的是确定 Romp & Chomp 后，吉朗社区的能力是否有所提高，吉朗社区由主要利益相关者组织代表，以支持幼儿的健康饮食和身体活动。
采用了三种数据源的混合方法评估。1）文件分析包括根据能力建设框架（五个领域：伙伴关系、领导力、资源分配、劳动力发展和组织发展）评估记录的形成性和干预活动；2）对 16 名关键知情人的访谈进行主题分析；3）社区能力指数调查的定量分析。
文件分析表明，大多数能力建设活动都涉及伙伴关系、资源分配和组织发展领域的能力建设，而领导力和劳动力发展领域的活动则较少。主题分析揭示了可持续伙伴关系的建立、专业建议的使用，以及将活动纳入幼儿工作者的现有正式培训。关键知情人访谈还揭示了一些复杂的问题，包括资金有限、人员流动率高、治理结构变化、缺乏高层领导和沟通策略不明确等挑战。社区能力指数进一步证明，项目实施网络达到了中等水平的能力。
Romp & Chomp 提高了吉朗社区组织、环境和服务支持幼儿健康饮食和身体活动的能力。尽管取得了这一成功，但从这项混合方法评估中吸取了重要的经验教训，这些经验教训应该为当前和未来的基于社区的公共卫生和健康促进倡议提供信息。
ANZCTRN12607000374460。
