TY - JOUR
T1 - A Nutrition Report Card on food environments for children and youth
T2 - 5 years of experience from Canada
AU - Ferdinands, Alexa R.
AU - Olstad, Dana Lee
AU - Milford, Krista M.
AU - Maximova, Katerina
AU - Nykiforuk, Candace I.J.
AU - Raine, Kim D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements: The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of members of the Expert Working Group (listed alphabetically): Karen Boyd (Dietitians of Canada, Alberta and the Territories), Laurie Drozdowski (University of Alberta), Soultana Macridis (University of Alberta), Lisa McLaughlin (Alberta Recreation and Parks Association), Leia Minaker (University of Waterloo), Anne-Marie Morel (Association pour la santé publique du Quebec), PJ Naylor (University of Victoria), Marie-Claude Paquette (Institut national de santé publique du Québec), Rachel Prowse (Public Health Ontario), Jacob Shelley (Western University), Mark Tremblay (Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, University of Ottawa), Sheila Tyminski (Alberta Health Services) and Colleen Wright (University of Alberta). The authors would also like to thank Aman Dhami, Shelby Johnson and Samantha Zaffino for their excellent technical assistance. Financial support: The NRC was funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (2013–2015) and is currently funded by the Alberta Innovates Cancer Prevention Research Opportunity (2016–2021; grant no. 201500846). The funders had no role in the design of the NRC, in preparing this manuscript or in the decision to submit it for publication. A.R.F. is supported by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship and a Women and Children’s Health Research Initiative Graduate Studentship funded by the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation. K.M. holds a Career Development Award in Prevention Research funded by the Canadian Cancer Society (grant no. 702936). C.I.J.N. received support as an Applied Public Health Chair from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions (2014–2019; CPP 137909). Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Authorship: K.D.R., D.L.O., C.I.J.N. and K.M. contributed to the design of the project. A.R.F. developed the manuscript with critical editorial support from K.D.R., D.L.O., C.I.J.N., K.M. and K.M.M. All authors read and approved the final. Ethics of human subject participation: The need for ethics approval was waived for NRC production by the University of Alberta’s Research Ethics Board 1. The NRC stakeholder survey study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving research study participants were approved by the University of Alberta’s Research Ethics Board 1 (Pro00058548). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society.
PY - 2020/8/1
Y1 - 2020/8/1
N2 - Objective: In 2014, a Nutrition Report Card (NRC) was developed as a sustainable, low-cost framework to assess the healthfulness of children's food environments and highlight action to support healthy eating. We summarise our experiences in producing, disseminating, evaluating and refining an annual NRC in a Canadian province from 2015 to 2019.Design: To produce the NRC, children's food environment indicator data are collected, analyzed and compiled for consensus grading by an Expert Working Group of researchers and practitioners. Knowledge translation activities are tailored annually to the needs of target audiences: researchers, practitioners, policymakers and the public. Evaluation of reach is conducted through diverse strategies, including tracking media coverage and website traffic. Assessment of impact on diets and health outcomes is planned.Setting: Alberta, Canada.Participants: Not applicable.Discussion: The grading process has facilitated refining the NRC to enhance its relevance and utility as a tool for its target audiences. Its public release consistently captures media interest and policymakers' attention. The importance of partnerships in revealing data sources and in strategising to enhance policy approaches to improve food environments is apparent. The NRC has benchmarked progress and stimulated dialogue regarding healthy food environments for children.Conclusions: The NRC may help to foster a supportive climate for improving the quality of children's food environments. As an engaging and accessible document, the NRC represents a key mechanism for collating data related to children's food environments and ensuring it reaches the audiences best positioned to use it. Efforts are underway to expand the NRC across Canada.
AB - Objective: In 2014, a Nutrition Report Card (NRC) was developed as a sustainable, low-cost framework to assess the healthfulness of children's food environments and highlight action to support healthy eating. We summarise our experiences in producing, disseminating, evaluating and refining an annual NRC in a Canadian province from 2015 to 2019.Design: To produce the NRC, children's food environment indicator data are collected, analyzed and compiled for consensus grading by an Expert Working Group of researchers and practitioners. Knowledge translation activities are tailored annually to the needs of target audiences: researchers, practitioners, policymakers and the public. Evaluation of reach is conducted through diverse strategies, including tracking media coverage and website traffic. Assessment of impact on diets and health outcomes is planned.Setting: Alberta, Canada.Participants: Not applicable.Discussion: The grading process has facilitated refining the NRC to enhance its relevance and utility as a tool for its target audiences. Its public release consistently captures media interest and policymakers' attention. The importance of partnerships in revealing data sources and in strategising to enhance policy approaches to improve food environments is apparent. The NRC has benchmarked progress and stimulated dialogue regarding healthy food environments for children.Conclusions: The NRC may help to foster a supportive climate for improving the quality of children's food environments. As an engaging and accessible document, the NRC represents a key mechanism for collating data related to children's food environments and ensuring it reaches the audiences best positioned to use it. Efforts are underway to expand the NRC across Canada.
KW - Children
KW - Food environment
KW - Monitoring
KW - Nutrition policy
KW - Report Card
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085161838&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1368980020000130
DO - 10.1017/S1368980020000130
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32434601
AN - SCOPUS:85085161838
SN - 1368-9800
VL - 23
SP - 2088
EP - 2099
JO - Public Health Nutrition
JF - Public Health Nutrition
IS - 12
ER -
