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Public policy aimed at preventing undesired phenomena has increasingly sought to engage representatives of the target population. Little is known, however, about how power dynamics function to shape the processes and outcomes of risk governance engagement interventions. In order to study the ways in which, and the extent to which, power differentials can be reduced in participatory health promotion initiatives, we develop a conceptual framework synthetising theories of participatory action, phenomenology and governmentality. Based on the empirical research into youth participation in the EU project CO-CREATE, involving 15–19-year-old adolescents in five European countries (2019–2021), we show that diverse forms of knowledge may become available in engagement interventions. We analyse the use and relative inclusion and exclusion of these different forms of knowledge in terms of a three-level framework of different depths of democratisation in participatory health promotion: risk management, risk definition and risk negotiation. Advanced democratisation can only be achieved if risk negotiation is carried out in ways which embrace and encourage a range of different, and potentially conflicting forms of knowing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate adolescents' critical awareness of whether obesity prevention policies targeting physical activity (PA) and nutrition were operating in their local community. Participants were 41 adolescents (aged 16–18, 90% women) recruited from three communities in Poland. Prior to this study, they were involved in obesity‐prevention participatory initiatives (conducted within the CO‐CREATE project), where obesity‐related public policy limitations were analyzed in a youth‐led discussion. A Photovoice exercise was designed to capture obesity‐related public policies that were either present or absent in young people's local environments. The photographs (N = 213) were coded and mapped according to the policy themes they illustrated, using the MOVING and NOURISHING frameworks. The public policies represented in the photographs are most frequently related to: healthy retail or food service environments; food advertising or promotion; structures and surroundings that promote PA; and infrastructure and opportunities that support public or active transport. Adolescents are critically aware of the presence and lack of specific public policies operating in their local environment, particularly policies affecting structural aspects of food and PA environments. Policy‐oriented photovoice exercises may prompt critical awareness among adolescents and empower them to contribute to obesity prevention policy processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]