About the project
The overall 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.
Objectives
RQ1: What are the dynamic processes determining whether schools will adopt or de-adopt the Norwegian SFS, and how are these influenced by the political and socio-economic contexts?
RQ2: What are the similarities and differences of the dynamic implementation processes of free fruit provision in lower secondary schools with different socio-demographic profiles, and how are these related to the roles, motivations and interactions of the implementers and target group?
RQ3: 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?
Background
Establishing lifelong healthy habits from an early age is important for primary cancer prevention. School-based interventions are considered an important strategy to achieve this as well as levelling out of social inequalities in these habits. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) have resulted in effective evidence-based interventions for the primary prevention of cancer in school settings. However, the implementation of such interventions is often low to moderate. Thus, finely tuned adoption and implementation strategies aimed at schools are needed to ensure the population impact of these interventions.
Little research has been conducted on drivers of adoption and implementation of interventions. Systems thinking is gaining momentum in public health research and practice as a complementary approach to the traditional linear causal models. So far, only a few researchers have combined implementation science and systems thinking to foster our understanding of the processes of adoption and implementation of evidence-based interventions in schools. This requires a well-studied, evidence-based intervention and the Norwegian School Fruit Scheme is exactly such a case.
Financing
- The Norwegian Cancer Society 2022-2025
- Throne Holst Foundation of Nutrition Research 2022-2023
Cooperation
- User Advisory Group
- Scientific Advisory Group
- Assistant professor Mohammad Jalali, Harvard Medical School based at MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, as well as a research affiliate with MIT Sloan's System Dynamics Group and a faculty affiliate with the Harvard Data Science Initiative.
- Professor Aleksandra Luszczynska, CARE-BEH Center for Applied Research on Health Behavior and Health, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw, Poland.
- Professor Elling Bere, University of Agder/Norwegian Institute of Public Health