Aylward, B.

Engaging communities in monitoring local food environments: Experiences of stakeholders
Aylward, B.L., Milford, K., Nykiforuk, C.I.J., Storey, K., Raine, K.D.

Children are increasingly exposed to food environments that have negative impacts on their diet and health. Evidence supports the use of interventions that involve whole communities, use multilevel strategies, and consider multiple settings to promote healthy eating. However, there is insufficient evidence addressing how to best implement such community-based interventions. Because local stakeholders are key players in creating and implementing self-sustaining community-based interventions, understanding their experiences may provide implementation insights. Local Environment Action on Food ("LEAF") aims to stimulate local action in changing food environments by engaging stakeholders in collecting local data and developing context-specific recommendations. The research aims to assess if and how LEAF facilitates the creation of local food environments that support healthy eating.

A qualitative collective case study design using semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of approximately 25 stakeholders explores LEAF stakeholder experiences of collecting food environment data and creating change. Document analysis aids in contextualization of interview data. Data collection and analysis are iterative, following Stake's phases of direct interpretation, categorical aggregation, correspondence and patterns, and naturalistic generalizations.

Preliminary findings suggest that integrating local knowledge and working across sectors to create recommendations for action on food environments produces a context-specific tool to ask for changes at the local level.

Engaging local stakeholders in monitoring food environments can promote local action to improve food environments that promote healthy eating. As such, they can build local capacity for the development of sustainable public health nutrition interventions.