Celebrating the end of the Promoting CHANGE intervention

A partnership driving healthier community sports and recreation food environments

As the Promoting CHANGE randomised controlled trial reached the end of its three-year intervention stage, the research team, partners and members of participating local governments came together to reflect and celebrate the successes so far. Conducted in Victoria, one of only a few jurisdictions with policy guidelines for healthier food environments in sports and recreation centres, the project built on what is now more than a decade of collective action to increase the healthiness of food environments in settings where Victorians live, learn, work and play. VicHealth Health Promotion Systems Executive Manager Sharon Laurence, who is also a former Victorian State Public Health Nutritionist, outlined the history of settings-based healthy food policy in the state, including the current Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures policy, which has collectively contributed to the state shifting the needle on sugar-sweetened beverage intakes among children. A key theme running through the day was the need to shift the current norm of unhealthy food and drink access, and as noted by Prof. Adrian Cameron from the Promoting CHANGE research team, “changing the environment is changing the norm”.

Above, Sharon Laurence from VicHealth, setting the scene for the Promoting CHANGE study

Several organisations that showed early leadership in this area, such as the Victorian Department of Health, the National Nutrition Foundation, the Municipal Association of Victoria, and the City of Greater Bendigo, are all formal partners on the Promoting CHANGE project and have contributed to its success. The day featured reflections from representatives from these organisations, including a panel presentation chaired by Prof. Anna Peeters, AM, the current CEO of VicHealth, and Director of the first RE-FRESH Centre of Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health, which explored opportunities to sustain, scale, and embed healthy food retail initiatives in community sport and recreation settings beyond Promoting CHANGE.

Above, panel (left to right) chaired by Prof. Anna Peeters, with Jan Black, Municipal Association of Victoria, Prashanti Manchikanti, Victorian Department of Health, Rebecca Dalrymple, City of Greater Bendigo and Bettina Backman, Deakin University 

Reflections from participants demonstrated the value of partnership, co-design, and continuous learning processes in transforming community setting food environments. Participants from intervention group local governments reflected on what led to successful food environment change, nominating an understanding of the demographics of facility customers, building strong relationships with retailers and having the evidence available to demonstrate the business case for healthy food retail. Victorian Department of Health representative, Prashanti Manchikanti, Director, Health Promotion, noted that “hearing people’s stories has helped bring our policies on paper to life – it’s really energising”. That sentiment was shared by many in the room, with intervention local governments reflecting on the way that Promoting CHANGE has sparked wider change within their council, and the confidence to do more for healthier communities. With the three control group local governments commencing a shortened one-year intervention period this month, the timing of the event was helpful to allow them to learn from and build on the success of the three intervention councils.

Above, Jess Nixon from Maroondah City Council presents her perspectives of participating in the study

With the intervention period complete, analysis is underway, with publications and findings to be shared over the coming year. More about the design and rationale for the study can be found in the published protocol, or on the Promoting CHANGE website, and you can also sign up to receive their newsletters. You can also get in touch with the team via promotingchange@deakin.edu.au

The Promoting CHANGE research team is led by Dr Miranda Blake (Deakin University), building on her record of settings-based healthy food retail research including evaluations of the Water in Sport initiative (with VicHealth) and the Healthy Eating in the West (with Western Leisure Services) initiative, with collaborators from Deakin, Menzies School of Health Research and the University of Newcastle. Dr Neha Lalchandani is the Promoting CHANGE program manager and MC’d the event on the day. The research team is grateful for the commitment of all 15 partners, and participants of the trial, which has helped build robust evidence for future healthy food retail work.

Promoting CHANGE is a joint initiative led by Deakin University, in partnership with City of Greater Bendigo, City of Greater Geelong, City of Greater Shepparton, City of Merri-bek, City of Monash, City of Yarra, Maroondah City Council, Menzies School of Health Research, Monash University, Municipal Association of Victoria, Nillumbik Shire Council, National Nutrition Foundation, Sport and Recreation Victoria, The University of Newcastle and the Victorian Department of Health. The opinions, analysis and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).