Reach for the Stars Evaluation Report

The Reach for the Stars program (RFTS) is a Latrobe Health Innovation Zone Initiative with funding provided by the Latrobe Health Assembly (LHA) and the Victorian Government. It is a supermarket-based initiative managed by the Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS) and the LHA, and co-designed in collaboration with participating supermarkets and the broader community. The intervention was adapted from a previous supermarket-based intervention in another regional Victorian centre, the Eat Well @ IGA Bendigo program. The RFTS was piloted in 2022. Following the success of this pilot, it was expanded during a second phase, from 2023 to 2025, to include five local independent supermarkets.

Aim: To evaluate the Healthy Supermarkets Latrobe project – Reach for the Stars

Evaluation objectives:

1. Determine the level of effectiveness of the marketing practices at improving the healthiness of the supermarket environment, based on the Store Scout App food environment healthiness scores.
2. Explore the perspectives and experiences of key stakeholders, such as retail store owners and staff at LCHS, regarding the successes and areas for improvement within the RFTS program.
3. Identify the determinants of the program’s long-term sustainability.