Testing the effectiveness of “Matjunglen” kindergarten with and without an implementation support intervention
The project is funded by the Norwegian Cancer Society for 2026-2027
The evidence of effects of healthy eating interventions in kindergartens is uncertain. This may be due to the well-known variation from low to moderate implementation of such interventions within research projects and the positive relationship between degree of implementation and effect.
Implementation science studies methods to promote the systematic uptake of evidence-based practices into routine practice. This includes understanding barriers and facilitators of implementation in order to choose implementation strategies to address these and linking their effects to implementation outcomes.
Matjungelen is an activity program for kindergartens available free of charge. It aims to give children knowledge and curiosity for healthy and sustainable food, increase knowledge among the personnel, and inspire children as change agents for better food choices. Qualitative evaluations have revealed potential positive effects, but also several implementation barriers and need for more support as well as an overall effect evaluation.
Project objectives /research questions
To apply implementation science to develop an implementation support intervention and test both the effect of this intervention on implementation outcomes and the effect of Matjungelen on kindergarten food environment and the children’s dietary behaviors.
- Is there an effect of the implementation support intervention on implementation outcomes?
- Is there an effect of Matjungelen on staff’s food-related practices and is it higher in the kindergartens receiving the implementation support intervention?
- Are there effects of Matjungelen on childrens’ willingness to taste new foods and intake of key indicator food groups and are these higher in the kindergartens receiving the implementation support intervention?
Nanna Lien, Marita Moe, Biljana Meshkovska, Lene Frost Andersen,
Collaborating partners: Folkelig
Co-creating and implementing theory- and evidence-based interventions with the municipality to promote healthy dietary habits in the population
The project is funded by the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences 2024-2027
Co-creating and implementing theory- and evidence-based interventions with the municipality to promote healthy dietary habits in the population Norwegian municipalities have an important responsibility for improving public health and reducing social inequalities and an obligation to work progressively and systematically using a Health in All Policies approach according to Norway’s Public Health Act. The municipalities should also work evidence-based and have a coherent public health strategy. However, evaluation reports of implementation of guidelines issued by the Norwegian Directorate of Health indicate that more practical guidance on how to work evidence-based is required for the municipalities to accomplish this goal. Evidence has often been narrowly considered as evidence on etiology and disease burden or evidence on effectiveness of interventions, whereas evidence on implementation within context has had less focus. Many interventions are “lost in translation” because they are not sustainably implemented in the different “real life settings”.
Aim and research questions
This project aims to co-create and evaluate the implementation of an intervention to support parents in their food parenting practices for their preschool aged children through CBPR and system approaches using the Health CASCADE methodology, and assess the viability validity of the intervention.
Research questions:
1. What needs for support do a variety of parents have in order to promote healthy eating habits of 3-5 year olds?
2. What are barriers and facilitators for municipalities to implement and maintain dietary support interventions?
3. How was the viability validity of the intervention evaluated by stakeholders and participants?
Recruitment video for parents
Nanna Lien, Biljana Meshkovska, Kristine H. Vinje, Lene Frost Andersen
Collaborating partners:
- Clinical nutritionist Gry I.G. Schultz, Nes Municipality
- Associate professor Hanne C. Lie, University of Oslo
- Professor Laura Terragni, Oslo Met
OBCT: Obesity: Biological, socioCultural, and environmental risk Trajectories
The project is funded by European Union for 2023-2028.
The steady rise in overweight and obesity in Europe disproportionally affects people and communities of a lower socioeconomic position (SEP). Many obesity prevention approaches exist, but these have had limited effect thus far in populations that need it the most: low-SEP subgroups. In this context, there is a need for implementation of effective individual-level and population-based strategies that prevent obesity and reduce health inequalities.
OBCT WP4 "Making policies work" with particular responsibility for objective 3: To co-develop and pilot tools to build community capacity for adapting and implementing obesity-reducing policies in accordance with local needs
Nanna Lien, Biljana Meshkovska, Sondre H.Herstad
Applying a system dynamics lens to adoption, implementation and impact of school based primary prevention for health behaviour change
The project is funded by the Norwegian Cancer Society for 2022-2025.
We already know that a healthy diet is one of the most important preventable risk factors for cancer. We further know that a person’s risk profile is established in youth and differ by socio-economic status. Thus, the best time to implement cancer prevention strategies is at an early age and as such, primary prevention through schools in particular has been extensively researched. However, dissemination has been slow, and there is great lack of attention to adoption and implementation processes of evidence-based interventions, as well as ignorance of the complex systems that these processes are integrated in. In this project, we will focus on adoption and implementation in these complex systems, in addition to the potential impact on the habit formation of children. We will do this by applying a system dynamics approach to understanding the behaviour of the whole system. The Norwegian SFS, with an adoption rate of only 35% and provided for free in only 40 out of 356 municipalities is a fitting case study for this purpose.
The objective of the project is to generate new knowledge on adoption, implementation and impact of school-based primary prevention interventions through combining implementation science and system dynamics and using the Norwegian School Fruit Scheme (SFS) as a case.
The following research questions will be answered:
1. What are the processes determining whether schools will adopt or de-adopt the Norwegian SFS?
2. What are the similarities and differences of the implementation processes of free fruit provision in lower secondary schools with different socio-demographic profiles?
3. Which mechanisms drive the impact of the Norwegian SFS on the habit formation of school children, and how is this related to adoption and implementation?
- Nanna Lien, Biljana Meshkovska, Mahshid Zolfaghari, Knut-Inge Klepp
- FRESKO website
Collaborating partners:
- Professor Birgit Kopiansky, University of Bergen
- Associate professor Hanne C. Lie, University of Oslo