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Issue Addressed: Effective dissemination of public health research and evidence-based guidelines to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) staff is critical for promoting research transfer and uptake and achieving positive outcomes for children., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during August 2021 to March 2022, with a sub-sample of Australian ECEC services participating in a larger survey completed online and via Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview. Survey items assessed: influential source for receiving research, type of content that would influence decisions to adopt research and preferred formats for receiving research., Results: Overall, 993 service managers or staff from 1984 (50.0%) invited and eligible services completed the larger survey. Of these, 463 randomly allocated services (46.7%) had staff complete the dissemination items. The Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, ECEC agencies and Government Departments were most frequently selected as influential sources of research evidence. Staff were most interested in content providing evidence-based recommendations for future actions and descriptions of health issues addressed. Workshops or conferences and webinars were the preferred format for receiving research., Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of tailoring dissemination strategies to meet ECEC staff needs and engaging influential sources to disseminate research evidence. SO WHAT?: Understanding dissemination preferences of ECEC staff is crucial for supporting uptake of evidence-based health promotion in this setting. By developing tailored strategies based on ECEC preferences, research transfer and evidence-based decision making can be supported more effectively. These findings contribute to bridging the evidence-practice gap and improving the quality of care and health outcomes for children in ECEC settings., (© 2023 The Authors. Health Promotion Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Health Promotion Association.)

Background: Child and Family Health Nursing (CFHN) services provide universal care to families during the first 2000 days (conception: 5 years) to support optimal health and developmental outcomes of children in New South Wales, Australia. The use of technology represents a promising means to encourage family engagement with CFHN services and enable universal access to evidenced-based age and stage information. Currently, there is little evidence exploring the acceptability of various models of technology-based support provided during the first 2000 days, as well as the maternal characteristics that may influence this., Objective: This study aims to describe (1) the acceptability of technology-based models of CFHN support to families in the first 6 months, and (2) the association between the acceptability of technology-based support and maternal characteristics., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken between September and November 2021 with women who were 6-8 months post partum within the Hunter New England Local Health District of New South Wales, Australia. Survey questions collected information on maternal demographics and pregnancy characteristics, perceived stress, access to CFHN services, as well as preferences and acceptability of technology-based support. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the sample, the proportion of women accessing CFHN services, maternal acceptability of technology-based support from CFHN services, and the appropriateness of timing of support. Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted to assess the association between maternal characteristics and the acceptability of technology-based CFHN support., Results: A total of 365 women participated in the study, most were 25 to 34 years old (n=242, 68%), had completed tertiary level education or higher (n=250, 71%), and were employed or on maternity leave (n=280, 78%). Almost all (n=305, 89%) women reported accessing CFHN services in the first 6 months following their child's birth. The majority of women (n=282-315, 82%-92%) "strongly agreed or agreed" that receiving information from CFHN via technology would be acceptable, and most (n=308) women "strongly agreed or agreed" with being provided information on a variety of relevant health topics. Acceptability of receiving information via websites was significantly associated with maternal employment status (P=.01). The acceptability of receiving support via telephone and email was significantly associated with maternal education level (adjusted odds ratio 2.64, 95% CI 1.07-6.51; P=.03 and adjusted odds ratio 2.90, 95% CI 1.20-7.00; P=.02, respectively). Maternal age was also associated with the acceptability of email support (P=.04)., Conclusions: Technology-based CFHN support is generally acceptable to mothers. Maternal characteristics, including employment status, education level, and age, were found to modify the acceptability of specific technology modalities. The findings of this research should be considered when designing technology-based solutions to providing universal age and stage child health and developmental support for families during the first 2000 days., (©Tessa Delaney, Jacklyn K Jackson, Alison L Brown, Christophe Lecathelinais, Luke Wolfenden, Nayerra Hudson, Sarah Young, Daniel Groombridge, Jessica Pinfold, Paul David Craven, Sinead Redman, John Wiggers, Melanie Kingsland, Margaret Hayes, Rachel Sutherland. Originally published in JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting (https://pediatrics.jmir.org), 24.09.2024.)

Background: Insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables in childhood increases the risk of future non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease. Testing the effects of interventions designed to increase children's consumption of fruit and vegetables, including those focused on specific child-feeding strategies or broader multicomponent interventions targeting the home or childcare environment, is required to assess the potential to reduce this disease burden., Objectives: To assess the benefits and harms of interventions designed to increase the consumption of fruit, vegetables or both amongst children aged five years and under., Search Methods: We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase and two clinical trials registries to identify eligible trials on 25 March 2023. We searched Proquest Dissertations and Theses in December 2022. We reviewed reference lists of included trials and contacted authors of the included trials to identify further potentially relevant trials., Selection Criteria: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), including cluster-randomised controlled trials (C-RCTs) and cross-over trials, of any intervention primarily targeting consumption of fruit, vegetables or both amongst children aged five years and under compared to no-intervention control, and incorporating a dietary or biochemical assessment of fruit or vegetable consumption. Two review authors independently screened titles and abstracts of identified papers; a third review author resolved disagreements., Data Collection and Analysis: Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed the risks of bias of included trials; a third review author resolved disagreements. We used random-effects models in meta-analyses for the primary review outcomes where we identified sufficient trials. We calculated standardised mean differences (SMDs) to account for the heterogeneity of fruit and vegetable consumption measures. We conducted assessments of risks of bias and evaluated the certainty of evidence (GRADE approach) using Cochrane procedures., Main Results: We included 53 trials with 120 trial arms and 12,350 participants. Sixteen trials examined the impact of child-feeding practice interventions only (e.g. repeated food exposure) in increasing child vegetable intake. Twenty trials examined the impact of multicomponent interventions primarily conducted in the childcare setting (e.g. parent nutrition education and preschool policy changes) in increasing child fruit and vegetable intake. Seventeen trials examined the impact of parent nutrition education only in increasing child fruit and vegetable intake. Two trials examined the effect of a nutrition education intervention delivered to children only in increasing child fruit and vegetable intake and one each examined a child-focused mindfulness intervention or providing families with fruit and vegetable interventions. We judged nine of the 53 included trials as free from high risks of bias across all domains. Performance, detection and attrition bias were the most common domains judged at high risk of bias for the remaining trials. There is moderate-certainty evidence that child-feeding practice interventions versus no-intervention control probably have a small positive effect on child vegetable consumption, equivalent to an increase of 15.5 grams as-desired consumption of vegetables (SMD 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24 to 0.65; 15 trials, 1976 participants; mean post-intervention follow-up = 12.3 weeks). No trials in this comparison reported information about intervention costs. One trial reported no harms or serious unintended adverse consequences (low-certainty evidence). Multicomponent interventions versus no-intervention control probably have a small effect on child consumption of fruit and vegetables (SMD 0.27, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.43; 14 trials, 4318 participants; moderate-certainty evidence; mean post-intervention follow-up = 4.0 weeks), equivalent to an increase of 0.34 cups of fruit and vegetables a day. One trial, which tested a multicomponent garden-based intervention, reported the installation of the garden as part of the intervention to be USD 1500 per childcare centre (low-certainty evidence). No trials in this comparison reported information about unintended adverse consequences of interventions. Parent nutrition education interventions may have little to no short-term impact on child consumption of fruit and vegetables versus no-intervention control (SMD 0.10, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.22; 14 trials, 4122 participants; low-certainty evidence; mean post-intervention follow-up = 6.4 weeks). One trial reported the total estimated cost of delivering a parent nutrition education intervention for infant feeding, physical activity and sedentary behaviours delivered by a dietitian as approximately AUD 500 per family (low-certainty evidence). One trial reported no unintended adverse consequences on family food expenditure following implementation of an intervention delivered over the telephone to improve parental knowledge and skills about the home food environment (low-certainty evidence). Trials reported receiving governmental or charitable funds, except for one trial reporting industry funding., Authors' Conclusions: There was moderate-certainty evidence that child-feeding practice interventions and multicomponent interventions probably lead to only small increases in fruit and vegetable consumption in children aged five years and under. Parent nutrition education interventions may have little or no effect on increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children aged five years and under. Future research should be prioritised on assessment and reporting of both intervention cost and adverse effects, and development and evaluation of interventions in research gaps, including in a broader range of settings and in low- and middle-income countries. This review continues to be maintained as a living systematic review with monthly searches for new evidence and incorporation of relevant new evidence as it becomes available. Please refer to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for the current status of this review., (Copyright © 2024 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: Children's physical activity and screen time behaviours impact their physical health and well-being. In Australia, less than half of children meet daily physical activity recommendations and only one-third meet daily screen time recommendations. Nearly half a million Australian school children aged 5-12 attend Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) weekly, activities undertaken at OSHC play a key role in meeting these recommendations. Currently, physical activity and screen time practices in OSHC vary and lack policy guidance. The Activated OSHC program is a policy-based intervention that supports OSHC services to implement the physical activity and screen time guidelines., Methods: 192 OSHC services across Australia will be recruited. 96 services will be randomly allocated to receive the Activated OSHC program. OSHC coordinators will complete online surveys examining physical activity and screen time scheduling, cost, acceptability, and feasibility. Primary outcome; changes in the proportion of intervention and control services meeting OSHC sector physical activity and screen time guidelines, and secondary outcomes; changes in children's physical activity and screen time behaviours; changes in staff behaviour will be assessed using mixed-effects regression models., Discussion: The aim of this study is to examine the impact of the Activated OSHC program on children's physical activity and screen time., Impact: Recent Australian research in Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) has identified significant inconsistency in practices related to physical activity and screen time, compounded by an absence of explicit policy guidance. The Activated OSHC program is a policy-based intervention that supports OSHC services to implement the Australian OSHC physical activity and screen time guidelines. This study will assess the implementation and effectiveness of the Activated OSHC program in an effectiveness-implementation hybrid type 2 trial design. Implementation of outside school hours care sector physical activity and screen time guidelines may improve children's physical activity and screen time behaviours., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Adolescent e-cigarette use, globally and within Australia, has increased in recent years. In response, public health agencies have called for the development of education and communication programmes targeting adolescents. Despite such recommendations, few rigorous evaluations of such interventions currently exist. The main objective of this study is to examine the potential effect of a text message intervention targeting parents and adolescents on adolescent susceptibility to e-cigarette use (eg, intentions towards using e-cigarettes). Secondary objectives are to (1): examine the effect of the intervention on adolescent e-cigarette and combustible tobacco use and (2) examine the acceptability of the intervention., Methods and Analysis: A randomised controlled trial employing a 2×2 factorial design will be conducted with parent-adolescent dyads (aged 12-15 years). Dyads will be randomly allocated to one of four arms: arm 1-a text message intervention delivered to adolescents only; arm 2-a text message intervention delivered to the parents of adolescents only; arm 3-a text message intervention delivered to both the parents and adolescents; and arm 4-an information only control, consisting of an e-cigarette factsheet provided to parents only. Participant recruitment commenced in March 2023 with the aim to recruit 120 parent-adolescent dyads. Data collection to assess study outcomes will occur at baseline, 6, 12 and 24 months post the commencement of the intervention. The primary endpoint will be 6-month follow-up. The primary outcome will be adolescent susceptibility to e-cigarette use, assessed using validated items. Analyses of trial outcomes will be undertaken under an intention-to-treat framework, with all participants included in the analysis in the group they were allocated., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethics approval has been obtained from the human research ethics committee of the University of Newcastle (H-2022-0340). Findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and at conferences., Trial Registration Number: The trial was registered prospectively with Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12623000079640)., Competing Interests: Competing interests: All authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objectives: Childcare services such as preschools and long day care centres have been identified as a key setting to promote physical activity in early childhood as they provide access to large numbers of children for prolonged periods. Yet, specific standards for the type and amount of physical activity (PA) children accumulate whilst attending childcare are lacking. The purpose of this study was to derive population-referenced percentile values for children's total movement and energetic play whilst attending early childhood education and care services., Design: We analysed accelerometer data collected in four Australian studies involving over 150 long day care services and 3893 accelerometer records from 1945 children to derive population-referenced percentile values for total movement and energetic play whilst attending formal early childhood education and care., Methods: Accelerometer data were processed into time spent in total movement and energetic play using a random forest physical activity classification model. Total movement and energetic play estimates were transformed to a standard normal distribution and percentiles were calculated for a 4-, 6-, 8-, and 10-hour early childhood education and care day., Results: On an average 8-hour early childhood education and care day (50th percentile), Australian pre-schoolers spend between 269 and 292 min, or 60 % of their day in movement. In contrast, Australian pre-schoolers only accumulate between 15 and 29 min of energetic play., Conclusions: The percentile reference values can be used to monitor young children's physical activity and energetic play levels whilst attending childcare. Educators can use the percentiles to assign norm-referenced ratings to identify children who could benefit from additional support for physical activity., Competing Interests: Declaration of interest statement The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The scale-up of evidence-based interventions is necessary to reverse high rates of obesity. However, scale-up doesn't occur frequently nor in a timely manner. While it has been estimated that takes 14-17 years for research translation to occur, the time taken to scale-up prevention interventions is largely unknown. This study examined the time taken to scale-up obesity prevention interventions across four scale-up pathways., Methods: A sample of obesity prevention interventions that had been scaled-up or implemented at scale were found using a structured search strategy. Included interventions were mapped against four scale-up pathways and timeframes associated with each stage of the scale-up pathway were identified to determine the time taken to scale-up., Results: Of the 90 interventions found that were scaled-up to at least a city-wide level, less than half reported a comprehensive research pathway to scale-up and a third did not report any evidence of efficacy or effectiveness prior to scale-up. The time taken to scale-up ranged from 0 to 5 years depending on the pathway taken. Those following a comprehensive pathway took approximately 5 years to scale-up, while interventions that had only one evidence generating step took between 1 and 1.5 years to scale-up. For the remaining interventions, scale-up occurred immediately post-development without evidence generation., Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the scale-up of obesity prevention interventions can occur more quickly than previous estimates of 14-17 years. Our findings support previous research that scale-up of interventions occurs through a variety of pathways and often scale-up occurs in absence of prior evidence of effectiveness., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors MC, KL, AB & PP declare no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Author LW was an investigator on one intervention examined in this study but this author was not involved in the data collection and analysis and did not influence these results., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Learning Health Systems (LHS) - characterised by cycles of evidence generation and application - are increasingly recognised for their potential to improve public health interventions and optimise health impacts; however there is little evidence of their application in the context of public health practice. Here, we describe how an Australian public health unit applied a LHS approach to successfully improve a model of support for implementation of a school-based physical activity policy., Methods: This body of work was undertaken in the context of a strong research-practice partnership. Core LHS capabilities included: i) partnerships and stakeholder engagement; ii) workforce development and learning health communities; iii) multi-disciplinary scientific expertise; iv) practice data collection and management system; v) evidence surveillance and synthesis; and vi) governance and organisational processes of decision making. Three cycles of data generation and application were used. Within each cycle, randomised controlled trials conducted in NSW primary schools were used to generate data on the support model's effectiveness for improving schools' implementation of a government physical activity policy, its delivery costs, and process measures such as adoption and acceptability. Each type of data were analysed independently, synthesised, and then presented to a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and practitioners, in consult with stakeholders, leading to collaborative decisions for incremental improvements to the support model., Results: Cycle 1 tested the first version of the support model (composed of five implementation strategies targeting identified barriers of policy implementation) and showed the model's feasibility and efficacy for improving schools' policy implementation. Data-informed changes were made to enhance impact, including the addition of three implementation strategies to address outstanding barriers. Cycle 2 (now, testing a package of eight implementation strategies) established the model's effectiveness and cost-effectiveness for improving school's policy implementation. Data-informed changes were made to reduce delivery costs, specifically adapting the costliest strategies to reduce in-person contact from external support personnel. Cycle 3 showed that the adaptations minimised the relative cost of delivery without adversely impacting on the effect., Conclusions: Through this process, we identified an effective, cost-effective, acceptable and scalable policy implementation support model for service delivery. This provides important information to inform or support LHS approaches for other agencies seeking to optimise the health impact of evidence-based interventions., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Malnutrition affects up to 80% of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) and is associated with higher burden of disease, poorer treatment outcomes, and greater mortality. The Eating As Treatment (EAT) intervention is a behavioral intervention previously demonstrated to be effective in improving nutritional status, depression, and quality of life in patients with HNC. This article examines the effects of the EAT intervention on 5-year mortality among participants., Methods and Materials: A multicenter, stepped-wedge, randomized controlled trial was conducted in 5 Australian hospitals. Dietitians were trained to deliver EAT, a combination of motivational interviewing and cognitive behavior therapy strategies, to patients with HNC receiving radiation therapy. Secondary analyses of survival benefit on an intention-to-treat basis were performed. Differences in proportions of 5-year all-cause mortality between the control and EAT intervention arms were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression, and 5-year survival rates were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression. Analyses controlled for temporal effects (study duration), hospital site (clustering), and baseline nutritional status differences., Results: Overall, there were 64 deaths in the 5 years after enrollment, 36 (24%) among those assigned to the control condition and 28 (18%) among those assigned to EAT. Logistic regression showed statistically significant reduced odds in favor of EAT (odds ratio, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.11-0.96), with an absolute risk reduction of 17% (95% CI, 0.01-0.33) and a relative risk reduction of 55% (95% CI, 0.22-0.92), resulting in a number needed to treat of 6 (95% CI, 4-13). Survival analysis revealed that risk of death was significantly reduced by the EAT intervention (hazard ratio, 0.39; 0.16-0.96)., Conclusions: Participation in EAT provided a statistically and clinically meaningful survival benefit, likely via improved nutrition during radiation therapy. This survival benefit strengthens the finding of the main trial, showing that a behavioral intervention focused on nutrition could improve HNC outcomes. Replication studies using stepped-wedge designs for implementation into clinical practice may be warranted., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: There is a need for valid and reliable measures of determinants of sustainability of public health interventions in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometric and pragmatic properties of such a measure - the Integrated Measure of PRogram Element SuStainability in Childcare Settings (IMPRESS-C)., Methods: We undertook a two-phase process guided by the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments checklist (COSMIN) and Psychometric and Pragmatic Evidence Rating Scale (PAPERS). Phase 1 involved measure development; i.e., determining items and scales through an iterative process and assessment of face and content validity. Phase 2 involved the evaluation of psychometric and pragmatic properties. The 29-item measure completed by service executives (directors and nominated supervisors) was embedded in a larger survey from a national sample of Australian ECEC services assessing their implementation of nutrition and physical activity programs. Structural validity, concurrent validity, known groups validity, internal consistency, floor and ceiling effects, norms, and pragmatic qualities of the measure were assessed according to the PAPERS criteria., Results: The final measure contained 26 items, with respondents reporting how strongly they agreed or disagreed on a five-point Likert scale. Phase 1 assessments confirmed the relevance, and face and content validity of the scale. In Phase 2, we obtained 482 completed surveys, of which 84% (n = 405) completed the entire measure across 405 ECEC settings (one executive per service). Three of the four fit indices for the confirmatory factor analysis met the pre-specified criteria (SRMR = 0.056, CFI = 0.993, RMSEA = 0.067) indicating 'good' structural validity. The IMPRESS-C illustrated: 'good' internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha values from 0.53 to 0.92; 'emerging' concurrent validity; 'poor' known groups validity; 'good' norms; and 'good' overall pragmatic qualities (cost, readability, length, and assessor burden)., Conclusions: The IMPRESS-C possesses strong psychometric and pragmatic qualities for assessing service executive-level perceptions of determinants influencing sustainment of public health interventions within ECEC settings. To achieve a full range of perspectives in this setting, future work should be directed to also develop and test measures of sustainability determinants at the implementer level (e.g., among individual educators and staff)., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Physical Activity 4 Everyone (PA4E1) is a whole-school physical activity program, with demonstrated efficacy (2012-2014). PA4E1 was adapted (scaled-up) and tested in a scale-up trial (2017-2020). This process evaluation study of the scale-up trial had 2 aims. First, to describe the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of PA4E1 in the scale-up trial, from the perspective of school staff involved in the program management and delivery. Second, to generate themes that may explain school staff assessments of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility., Methods: Data were collected at various time points throughout the 2-year implementation phase. Online surveys were collected from In-School Champions, Head Physical Education teachers, Principals, and Physical Education teachers (quantitative data). Focus groups and interviews were conducted with In-School Champions, Principals, and Physical Education teachers (qualitative data). Existing published data on website engagement, adaptations, modifications, and the scale-up trial primary outcome (implementation of physical activity practices) were triangulated with the quantitative and qualitative during analysis, to generate themes., Results: School staff delivering PA4E1 reported it was highly acceptable, appropriate, and feasible. Seven themes were generated relating to acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility. The themes related to how the program was funded, the delivery modes of implementation support, the identification of easy-wins, the recruitment of the right in-school champion, facilitating principal buy-in, mitigating the impact of school staff turnover, and engaging the whole school., Conclusions: Recommendations are made to inform future adaptations for PA4E1 and potentially school-based physical activity programs more generally. The findings may inform future scalability assessments of the suitability of programs for scale-up.

Background: Prevention of obesity in children is an international public health priority given the prevalence of the condition (and its significant impact on health, development and well-being). Interventions that aim to prevent obesity involve behavioural change strategies that promote healthy eating or 'activity' levels (physical activity, sedentary behaviour and/or sleep) or both, and work by reducing energy intake and/or increasing energy expenditure, respectively. There is uncertainty over which approaches are more effective and numerous new studies have been published over the last five years, since the previous version of this Cochrane review., Objectives: To assess the effects of interventions that aim to prevent obesity in children by modifying dietary intake or 'activity' levels, or a combination of both, on changes in BMI, zBMI score and serious adverse events., Search Methods: We used standard, extensive Cochrane search methods. The latest search date was February 2023., Selection Criteria: Randomised controlled trials in children (mean age 5 years and above but less than 12 years), comparing diet or 'activity' interventions (or both) to prevent obesity with no intervention, usual care, or with another eligible intervention, in any setting. Studies had to measure outcomes at a minimum of 12 weeks post baseline. We excluded interventions designed primarily to improve sporting performance., Data Collection and Analysis: We used standard Cochrane methods. Our outcomes were body mass index (BMI), zBMI score and serious adverse events, assessed at short- (12 weeks to < 9 months from baseline), medium- (9 months to < 15 months) and long-term (≥ 15 months) follow-up. We used GRADE to assess the certainty of the evidence for each outcome., Main Results: This review includes 172 studies (189,707 participants); 149 studies (160,267 participants) were included in meta-analyses. One hundred forty-six studies were based in high-income countries. The main setting for intervention delivery was schools (111 studies), followed by the community (15 studies), the home (eight studies) and a clinical setting (seven studies); one intervention was conducted by telehealth and 31 studies were conducted in more than one setting. Eighty-six interventions were implemented for less than nine months; the shortest was conducted over one visit and the longest over four years. Non-industry funding was declared by 132 studies; 24 studies were funded in part or wholly by industry. Dietary interventions versus control Dietary interventions, compared with control, may have little to no effect on BMI at short-term follow-up (mean difference (MD) 0, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.10 to 0.10; 5 studies, 2107 participants; low-certainty evidence) and at medium-term follow-up (MD -0.01, 95% CI -0.15 to 0.12; 9 studies, 6815 participants; low-certainty evidence) or zBMI at long-term follow-up (MD -0.05, 95% CI -0.10 to 0.01; 7 studies, 5285 participants; low-certainty evidence). Dietary interventions, compared with control, probably have little to no effect on BMI at long-term follow-up (MD -0.17, 95% CI -0.48 to 0.13; 2 studies, 945 participants; moderate-certainty evidence) and zBMI at short- or medium-term follow-up (MD -0.06, 95% CI -0.13 to 0.01; 8 studies, 3695 participants; MD -0.04, 95% CI -0.10 to 0.02; 9 studies, 7048 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). Five studies (1913 participants; very low-certainty evidence) reported data on serious adverse events: one reported serious adverse events (e.g. allergy, behavioural problems and abdominal discomfort) that may have occurred as a result of the intervention; four reported no effect. Activity interventions versus control Activity interventions, compared with control, may have little to no effect on BMI and zBMI at short-term or long-term follow-up (BMI short-term: MD -0.02, 95% CI -0.17 to 0.13; 14 studies, 4069 participants; zBMI short-term: MD -0.02, 95% CI -0.07 to 0.02; 6 studies, 3580 participants; low-certainty evidence; BMI long-term: MD -0.07, 95% CI -0.24 to 0.10; 8 studies, 8302 participants; zBMI long-term: MD -0.02, 95% CI -0.09 to 0.04; 6 studies, 6940 participants; low-certainty evidence). Activity interventions likely result in a slight reduction of BMI and zBMI at medium-term follow-up (BMI: MD -0.11, 95% CI -0.18 to -0.05; 16 studies, 21,286 participants; zBMI: MD -0.05, 95% CI -0.09 to -0.02; 13 studies, 20,600 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). Eleven studies (21,278 participants; low-certainty evidence) reported data on serious adverse events; one study reported two minor ankle sprains and one study reported the incident rate of adverse events (e.g. musculoskeletal injuries) that may have occurred as a result of the intervention; nine studies reported no effect. Dietary and activity interventions versus control Dietary and activity interventions, compared with control, may result in a slight reduction in BMI and zBMI at short-term follow-up (BMI: MD -0.11, 95% CI -0.21 to -0.01; 27 studies, 16,066 participants; zBMI: MD -0.03, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.00; 26 studies, 12,784 participants; low-certainty evidence) and likely result in a reduction of BMI and zBMI at medium-term follow-up (BMI: MD -0.11, 95% CI -0.21 to 0.00; 21 studies, 17,547 participants; zBMI: MD -0.05, 95% CI -0.07 to -0.02; 24 studies, 20,998 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). Dietary and activity interventions compared with control may result in little to no difference in BMI and zBMI at long-term follow-up (BMI: MD 0.03, 95% CI -0.11 to 0.16; 16 studies, 22,098 participants; zBMI: MD -0.02, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.01; 22 studies, 23,594 participants; low-certainty evidence). Nineteen studies (27,882 participants; low-certainty evidence) reported data on serious adverse events: four studies reported occurrence of serious adverse events (e.g. injuries, low levels of extreme dieting behaviour); 15 studies reported no effect. Heterogeneity was apparent in the results for all outcomes at the three follow-up times, which could not be explained by the main setting of the interventions (school, home, school and home, other), country income status (high-income versus non-high-income), participants' socioeconomic status (low versus mixed) and duration of the intervention. Most studies excluded children with a mental or physical disability., Authors' Conclusions: The body of evidence in this review demonstrates that a range of school-based 'activity' interventions, alone or in combination with dietary interventions, may have a modest beneficial effect on obesity in childhood at short- and medium-term, but not at long-term follow-up. Dietary interventions alone may result in little to no difference. Limited evidence of low quality was identified on the effect of dietary and/or activity interventions on severe adverse events and health inequalities; exploratory analyses of these data suggest no meaningful impact. We identified a dearth of evidence for home and community-based settings (e.g. delivered through local youth groups), for children living with disabilities and indicators of health inequities., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. on behalf of The Cochrane Collaboration.)

Background: Prevention of obesity in adolescents is an international public health priority. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is over 25% in North and South America, Australia, most of Europe, and the Gulf region. Interventions that aim to prevent obesity involve strategies that promote healthy diets or 'activity' levels (physical activity, sedentary behaviour and/or sleep) or both, and work by reducing energy intake and/or increasing energy expenditure, respectively. There is uncertainty over which approaches are more effective, and numerous new studies have been published over the last five years since the previous version of this Cochrane Review., Objectives: To assess the effects of interventions that aim to prevent obesity in adolescents by modifying dietary intake or 'activity' levels, or a combination of both, on changes in BMI, zBMI score and serious adverse events., Search Methods: We used standard, extensive Cochrane search methods. The latest search date was February 2023., Selection Criteria: Randomised controlled trials in adolescents (mean age 12 years and above but less than 19 years), comparing diet or 'activity' interventions (or both) to prevent obesity with no intervention, usual care, or with another eligible intervention, in any setting. Studies had to measure outcomes at a minimum of 12 weeks post baseline. We excluded interventions designed primarily to improve sporting performance., Data Collection and Analysis: We used standard Cochrane methods. Our outcomes were BMI, zBMI score and serious adverse events, assessed at short- (12 weeks to < 9 months from baseline), medium- (9 months to < 15 months) and long-term (≥ 15 months) follow-up. We used GRADE to assess the certainty of the evidence for each outcome., Main Results: This review includes 74 studies (83,407 participants); 54 studies (46,358 participants) were included in meta-analyses. Sixty studies were based in high-income countries. The main setting for intervention delivery was schools (57 studies), followed by home (nine studies), the community (five studies) and a primary care setting (three studies). Fifty-one interventions were implemented for less than nine months; the shortest was conducted over one visit and the longest over 28 months. Sixty-two studies declared non-industry funding; five were funded in part by industry. Dietary interventions versus control The evidence is very uncertain about the effects of dietary interventions on body mass index (BMI) at short-term follow-up (mean difference (MD) -0.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.41 to 0.06; 3 studies, 605 participants), medium-term follow-up (MD -0.65, 95% CI -1.18 to -0.11; 3 studies, 900 participants), and standardised BMI (zBMI) at long-term follow-up (MD -0.14, 95% CI -0.38 to 0.10; 2 studies, 1089 participants); all very low-certainty evidence. Compared with control, dietary interventions may have little to no effect on BMI at long-term follow-up (MD -0.30, 95% CI -1.67 to 1.07; 1 study, 44 participants); zBMI at short-term (MD -0.06, 95% CI -0.12 to 0.01; 5 studies, 3154 participants); and zBMI at medium-term (MD 0.02, 95% CI -0.17 to 0.21; 1 study, 112 participants) follow-up; all low-certainty evidence. Dietary interventions may have little to no effect on serious adverse events (two studies, 377 participants; low-certainty evidence). Activity interventions versus control Compared with control, activity interventions do not reduce BMI at short-term follow-up (MD -0.64, 95% CI -1.86 to 0.58; 6 studies, 1780 participants; low-certainty evidence) and probably do not reduce zBMI at medium- (MD 0, 95% CI -0.04 to 0.05; 6 studies, 5335 participants) or long-term (MD -0.05, 95% CI -0.12 to 0.02; 1 study, 985 participants) follow-up; both moderate-certainty evidence. Activity interventions do not reduce zBMI at short-term follow-up (MD 0.02, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.05; 7 studies, 4718 participants; high-certainty evidence), but may reduce BMI slightly at medium-term (MD -0.32, 95% CI -0.53 to -0.11; 3 studies, 2143 participants) and long-term (MD -0.28, 95% CI -0.51 to -0.05; 1 study, 985 participants) follow-up; both low-certainty evidence. Seven studies (5428 participants; low-certainty evidence) reported data on serious adverse events: two reported injuries relating to the exercise component of the intervention and five reported no effect of intervention on reported serious adverse events. Dietary and activity interventions versus control Dietary and activity interventions, compared with control, do not reduce BMI at short-term follow-up (MD 0.03, 95% CI -0.07 to 0.13; 11 studies, 3429 participants; high-certainty evidence), and probably do not reduce BMI at medium-term (MD 0.01, 95% CI -0.09 to 0.11; 8 studies, 5612 participants; moderate-certainty evidence) or long-term (MD 0.06, 95% CI -0.04 to 0.16; 6 studies, 8736 participants; moderate-certainty evidence) follow-up. They may have little to no effect on zBMI in the short term, but the evidence is very uncertain (MD -0.09, 95% CI -0.2 to 0.02; 3 studies, 515 participants; very low-certainty evidence), and they may not reduce zBMI at medium-term (MD -0.05, 95% CI -0.1 to 0.01; 6 studies, 3511 participants; low-certainty evidence) or long-term (MD -0.02, 95% CI -0.05 to 0.01; 7 studies, 8430 participants; low-certainty evidence) follow-up. Four studies (2394 participants) reported data on serious adverse events (very low-certainty evidence): one reported an increase in weight concern in a few adolescents and three reported no effect., Authors' Conclusions: The evidence demonstrates that dietary interventions may have little to no effect on obesity in adolescents. There is low-certainty evidence that activity interventions may have a small beneficial effect on BMI at medium- and long-term follow-up. Diet plus activity interventions may result in little to no difference. Importantly, this updated review also suggests that interventions to prevent obesity in this age group may result in little to no difference in serious adverse effects. Limitations of the evidence include inconsistent results across studies, lack of methodological rigour in some studies and small sample sizes. Further research is justified to investigate the effects of diet and activity interventions to prevent childhood obesity in community settings, and in young people with disabilities, since very few ongoing studies are likely to address these. Further randomised trials to address the remaining uncertainty about the effects of diet, activity interventions, or both, to prevent childhood obesity in schools (ideally with zBMI as the measured outcome) would need to have larger samples., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. on behalf of The Cochrane Collaboration.)

Background: A key role of public health policy-makers and practitioners is to ensure beneficial interventions are implemented effectively enough to yield improvements in public health. The use of evidence to guide public health decision-making to achieve this is recommended. However, few studies have examined the relative value, as reported by policy-makers and practitioners, of different broad research outcomes (that is, measures of cost, acceptability, and effectiveness). To guide the conduct of research and better inform public health policy and practice, this study aimed at describing the research outcomes that Australian policy-makers and practitioners consider important for their decision-making when selecting: (a) public health interventions; (b) strategies to support their implementation; and (c) to assess the differences in research outcome preferences between policy-makers and practitioners., Method: An online value-weighting survey was conducted with Australian public health policy-makers and practitioners working in the field of non-communicable disease prevention. Participants were presented with a list of research outcomes and were asked to select up to five they considered most critical to their decision-making. They then allocated 100 points across these - allocating more points to outcomes perceived as more important. Outcome lists were derived from a review and consolidation of evaluation and outcome frameworks in the fields of public health knowledge translation and implementation. We used descriptive statistics to report relative preferences overall and for policy-makers and practitioners separately., Results: Of the 186 participants; 90 primarily identified as policy-makers and 96 as public health prevention practitioners. Overall, research outcomes of effectiveness, equity, feasibility, and sustainability were identified as the four most important outcomes when considering either interventions or strategies to implement them. Scores were similar for most outcomes between policy-makers and practitioners., Conclusion: For Australian policy-makers and practitioners working in the field of non-communicable disease prevention, outcomes related to effectiveness, equity, feasibility, and sustainability appear particularly important to their decisions about the interventions they select and the strategies they employ to implement them. The findings suggest researchers should seek to meet these information needs and prioritize the inclusion of such outcomes in their research and dissemination activities. The extent to which these outcomes are critical to informing the decision of policy-makers and practitioners working in other jurisdictions or contexts warrants further investigation., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The primary purpose of this review is to synthesise the effect of strategies aiming to sustain the implementation of evidenced-based interventions (EBIs) targeting key health behaviours associated with chronic disease (i.e. physical inactivity, poor diet, harmful alcohol use, and tobacco smoking) in clinical and community settings. The field of implementation science is bereft of an evidence base of effective sustainment strategies, and as such, this review will provide important evidence to advance the field of sustainability research., Methods: This systematic review protocol is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) checklist. Methods will follow Cochrane gold-standard review methodology. The search will be undertaken across multiple databases, adapting filters previously developed by the research team, data screening and extraction will be performed in duplicate, strategies will be coded using an adapted sustainability-explicit taxonomy, and evidence will be synthesised using appropriate methods (i.e. meta-analytic following Cochrane or non-meta-analytic following SWiM guidelines). We will include any randomised controlled study that targets any staff or volunteers delivering interventions in clinical or community settings. Studies which report on any objective or subjective measure of the sustainment of a health prevention policy, practice, or programme within any of the eligible settings will be included. Article screening, data extraction, risk of bias, and quality assessment will be performed independently by two review authors. Risk of bias will be assessed using Version 2 of the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomised trials (RoB 2). A random-effect meta-analysis will be conducted to estimate the pooled effect of sustainment strategies separately by setting (i.e. clinical and community). Sub-group analyses will be undertaken to explore possible causes of statistical heterogeneity and may include the following: time period, single or multi-strategy, type of setting, and type of intervention. Differences between sub-groups will be statistically compared., Discussion/conclusion: This will be the first systematic review to determine the effect of strategies designed to support sustainment on sustaining the implementation of EBIs in clinical and community settings. The findings of this review will directly inform the design of future sustainability-focused implementation trials. Further, these findings will inform the development of a sustainability practice guide for public health practitioners., Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO CRD42022352333., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objectives: To identify, characterise and broadly synthesise factors associated with child and adolescent electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and/or electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS) ever-use and/or current use., Methods: Four electronic databases were searched from inception to 3rd June 2022. Non-experimental studies that provided quantitative factors associated with adolescent and/or child ENDS or ENNDS ever-use and/or current use were included. Factors associated with ever-use (any lifetime use) and/or current use (use in past 30 days) were included. All screening and data extraction was conducted independently by paired review authors. Frequencies for country, study design, sample size, measure of ENDS/ENNDS use and factors examined were calculated. Factors were categorised according to the Theory of Triadic Influence domains and sub-domains., Results: The search of electronic databases identified 4756 records, 240 of which were included. The majority of studies examined factors categorised within the Biology and Personality domain of the Theory of Triadic Influence (89.2%; 95%CI 84.6, 82.5), followed by the Social Context (50.8%; 95%CI 44.5, 57.2) and Broader Environment domains (30.4%; 95%CI 24.6, 36.3). The proportion of factors significantly associated with ENDS/ENNDS use was >75% for the Behavioural (78.0%; factors included use of tobacco, other drugs and alcohol), Peer Attitudes and Behaviours (80.0%; factors included peer use of ENDS/ENNDS and tobacco), and Legislation/Policy sub-domains (78.6%; factors included accessibility and advertising)., Conclusions: The evidence base on factors associated with ENDS/ENNDS use in children and adolescents is rapidly developing, predominately by research concentrated in high income regions and focused on behavioural- and personality-related factors., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To enhance equity in clinical and epidemiological research, it is crucial to understand researcher motivations for conducting equity-relevant studies. Therefore, we evaluated author motivations in a randomly selected sample of equity-relevant observational studies published during the COVID-19 pandemic., Study Design and Setting: We searched MEDLINE for studies from 2020 to 2022, resulting in 16,828 references. We randomly selected 320 studies purposefully sampled across income setting (high vs low-middle-income), COVID-19 topic (vs non-COVID-19), and focus on populations experiencing inequities. Of those, 206 explicitly mentioned motivations which we analyzed thematically. We used discourse analysis to investigate the reasons behind emerging motivations., Results: We identified the following motivations: (1) examining health disparities, (2) tackling social determinants to improve access, and (3) addressing knowledge gaps in health equity. Discourse analysis showed motivations stem from commitments to social justice and recognizing the importance of highlighting it in research. Other discourses included aspiring to improve health-care efficiency, wanting to understand cause-effect relationships, and seeking to contribute to an equitable evidence base., Conclusion: Understanding researchers' motivations for assessing health equity can aid in developing guidance that tailors to their needs. We will consider these motivations in developing and sharing equity guidance to better meet researchers' needs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest L.G.C. is employed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). The ideas expressed in this manuscript are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the decisions and policies of PAHO/WHO. There are no competing interests for any other author., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: An important impediment to the large-scale adoption of evidence-based school nutrition interventions is the lack of evidence on effective strategies to implement them. This paper describes the protocol for a "Collaborative Network Trial" to support the simultaneous testing of different strategies undertaken by New South Wales Local Health Districts to facilitate the adoption of an effective school-based healthy lunchbox program ('SWAP IT'). The primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of different implementation strategies to increase school adoption of the SWAP across New South Wales Local Health Districts., Methods: Within a Master Protocol framework, a collaborative network trial will be undertaken. Independent randomized controlled trials to test implementation strategies to increase school adoption of SWAP IT within primary schools in 10 different New South Wales Local Health Districts will occur. Schools will be randomly allocated to either the intervention or control condition. Schools allocated to the intervention group will receive a combination of implementation strategies. Across the 10 participating Local Health Districts, six broad strategies were developed and combinations of these strategies will be executed over a 6 month period. In six districts an active comparison group (containing one or more implementation strategies) was selected. The primary outcome of the trial will be adoption of SWAP IT, assessed via electronic registration records captured automatically following online school registration to the program. The primary outcome will be assessed using logistic regression analyses for each trial. Individual participant data component network meta-analysis, under a Bayesian framework, will be used to explore strategy-covariate interactions; to model additive main effects (separate effects for each component of an implementation strategy); two way interactions (synergistic/antagonistic effects of components), and full interactions., Discussion: The study will provide rigorous evidence of the effects of a variety of implementation strategies, employed in different contexts, on the adoption of a school-based healthy lunchbox program at scale. Importantly, it will also provide evidence as to whether health service-centered, collaborative research models can rapidly generate new knowledge and yield health service improvements., Clinical Trial Registration: This trial is registered prospectively with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12623000558628)., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Barnes, Jones, Wolfenden, Robertson, Seidler, Norman, Budgen, Mattingly, Piliskic, Moorhouse, Mozina, Plaskett, McDermott, Darney, Vuong, Douglass, McDonnell and Sutherland.)

Background: School canteens are a recommended setting to influence adolescent nutrition due to their scope to improve student food choices. Online lunch ordering systems ("online canteens") are increasingly used and represent attractive infrastructure to implement choice architecture interventions that nudge users toward healthier food choices. A recent cluster randomized controlled trial demonstrated the short-term effectiveness (2-month follow-up) of a choice architecture intervention to increase the healthiness of foods purchased by high school students from online canteens. However, there is little evidence regarding the long-term effectiveness of choice architecture interventions targeting adolescent food purchases, particularly those delivered online., Objective: This study aimed to determine the long-term effectiveness of a multi-strategy choice architecture intervention embedded within online canteen infrastructure in high schools at a 15-month follow-up., Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was undertaken with 1331 students (from 9 high schools) in New South Wales, Australia. Schools were randomized to receive the automated choice architecture intervention (including menu labeling, positioning, feedback, and prompting strategies) or the control (standard online ordering). The foods purchased were classified according to the New South Wales Healthy Canteen strategy as either "everyday," "occasional," or "should not be sold." Primary outcomes were the average proportion of "everyday," "occasional," and "should not be sold" items purchased per student. Secondary outcomes were the mean energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium content of purchases. Outcomes were assessed using routine data collected by the online canteen., Results: From baseline to 15-month follow-up, on average, students in the intervention group ordered significantly more "everyday" items (+11.5%, 95% CI 7.3% to 15.6%; P<.001), and significantly fewer "occasional" (-5.4%, 95% CI -9.4% to -1.5%; P=.007) and "should not be sold" items (-6%, 95% CI -9.1% to -2.9%; P<.001), relative to controls. There were no between-group differences over time in the mean energy, saturated fat, sugar, or sodium content of lunch orders., Conclusions: Given their longer-term effectiveness, choice architecture interventions delivered via online canteens may represent a promising option for policy makers to support healthy eating among high school students., Trial Registration: Australian Clinical Trials ACTRN12620001338954, https://anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=380546 ; Open Science Framework osf.io/h8zfr, https://osf.io/h8zfr/., (©Tessa Delaney, Jacklyn Jackson, Christophe Lecathelinais, Tara Clinton-McHarg, Hannah Lamont, Sze Lin Yoong, Luke Wolfenden, Rachel Sutherland, Rebecca Wyse. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 19.03.2024.)

Background: Scientific investigation of how to sustain the implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBI) is emerging. Sustaining the implementation of EBIs helps ensure their effects on improving health endure. External policy or practice agencies, such as government health departments, are often tasked with supporting individual organisations with sustaining their delivery of EBIs, for example, through financing, training or the provision of other supports. However, to our knowledge, the approaches taken by policy and practice agencies to support the sustainment of EBIs have not been consolidated, categorised and described as a typology., Main Body: To improve conceptual clarity and support both research and practice, we developed an initial working typology of the practical approaches to sustain implementation of EBIs (i.e. sustainment) in order to improve long term health from the perspective of these agencies. The working typology includes three broad approaches. The first, termed 'Self-Sustainment', is when implementation of the EBI by an organisation (e.g. hospital, clinic, school) is expected to continue (sustain) in the absence of external (agency) support. The second, termed 'Static Sustainment Support', involves the provision of pre-defined external (agency) support to assist organisations to continue implementation of an EBI. The final approach is termed 'Dynamic Sustainment Support', whereby support provided by an external agency is dynamic (continues to be adapted) overtime to assist organisations continue implementation of an intervention which may itself also evolve., Conclusions: We describe the contexts and circumstances where each may be most appropriate in achieving sustained implementation and discuss their research and practice implications., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Quality reporting contributes to effective translation of health research in practice and policy. As an initial step in the development of a reporting guideline for scaling, the Standards for reporting stUdies of sCaling evidenCEd-informED interventions (SUCCEED), we performed a systematic review to identify relevant guidelines and compile a list of potential items., Methods: We conducted a systematic review according to Cochrane method guidelines. We searched the following databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, from their respective inceptions. We also searched websites of relevant organizations and Google. We included any document that provided instructions or recommendations, e.g., reporting guideline, checklist, guidance, framework, standard; could inform the design or reporting of scaling interventions; and related to the health sector. We extracted characteristics of the included guidelines and assessed their methodological quality using a 3-item internal validity assessment tool. We extracted all items from the guidelines and classified them according to the main sections of reporting guidelines (title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and other information). We performed a narrative synthesis based on descriptive statistics., Results: Of 7704 records screened (published between 1999 and 2019), we included 39 guidelines, from which data were extracted from 57 reports. Of the 39 guidelines, 17 were for designing scaling interventions and 22 for reporting implementation interventions. At least one female author was listed in 31 guidelines, and 21 first authors were female. None of the authors belonged to the patient stakeholder group. Only one guideline clearly identified a patient as having participated in the consensus process. More than half the guidelines (56%) had been developed using an evidence-based process. In total, 750 items were extracted from the 39 guidelines and distributed into the 7 main sections., Conclusion: Relevant items identified could inform the development of a reporting guideline for scaling studies of evidence-based health interventions. This and our assessment of guidelines could contribute to better reporting in the science and practice of scaling., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Objectives: To describe early childhood education and care (ECEC) services: i) perceptions regarding the scalability of healthy eating and physical activity interventions; and ii) associations between scalability and service characteristics., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a randomly selected sample of ECEC services across Australia. The scalability of 12 healthy eating and physical activity interventions was assessed using items based on the Intervention Scalability Assessment Tool. Higher scores represented higher perceived scalability., Results: From 453 participants, the highest scoring healthy eating and physical activity interventions were 'providing healthy eating education and activities for children' (M43.05) (out of 50) and 'providing sufficient opportunities for child physical activity' (M41.43). The lowest scoring was 'providing families with lunchbox guidelines' (M38.99) and 'engaging families in activities to increase child physical activity' (M38.36). Services located in rural areas, compared to urban areas, scored the overall scalability of both healthy eating and physical activity interventions significantly lower., Conclusions: Perceptions regarding the scalability of healthy eating and physical activity interventions in the ECEC setting vary according to service characteristics., Implications for Public Health: Findings identify where government investment and implementation efforts may be prioritised to facilitate scale-up. An investigation into the barriers and support required for lower-scoring interventions is warranted., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ninety per cent of Australian school children bring a home-packed lunch to school, with 44% of the food consumed during school hours being unhealthy. Among other factors, cost is a key consideration for food provision; however, the costs to Australian families are not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to determine what families are currently paying for school lunchboxes in Australian primary schools and to examine associations between food costs and socio-demographic factors with dietary quality. An audit of local retail outlets was used to determine the food costs of lunchbox contents. Costs (AUD) were adjusted for inflation as of early 2023. The lunchboxes of 1026 children aged 4-12 years at 12 Catholic primary schools in New South Wales, Australia, were assessed at the start of the day, using photography assessment methods and a validated School Food Checklist. The mean cost of lunchbox contents was $4.48 AUD (SD 1.53), containing a mean energy of 2699 kJ (SD 859), with 37.3% (SD 23.9) of energy sourced from unhealthy foods. Multiple linear regression analyses found that the strongest predictors of higher lunchbox cost (P < 0.05) were a higher proportion of energy from unhealthy foods (B = 0.016) and lower Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (B = -0.178), when controlling for child socio-demographics. The results indicated that lunchbox food costs to Australian families are comparable to alternative school food service models in Australia and internationally. Results demonstrate the cost of food is not the only barrier to providing a healthy school lunchbox. Demonstrating a need for cost-considerate systematic interventions addressing food provision challenges and socio-economic disparities faced by families., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Background: Workplaces are an important setting to deliver programs to reduce risk factors for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). To help decision makers understand the most current and relevant evidence regarding effectiveness of workplace programs, we conducted an umbrella review to present a comprehensive synthesis of the large volume of literature., Methods: Systematic reviews of workplace interventions targeting primary risk factors for NCDs-unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity, overweight/obesity, tobacco use, and/or excessive alcohol use-published since 2010 were sourced. For each risk factor, reviews were categorized by intervention type and quality. The most recent, high-quality review was included for each intervention type. Evidence for the effectiveness of each intervention type was then broadly classified based on the review summary findings., Results: Twenty-one reviews were included. Most reviews focused on diet (n = 5), physical activity (n = 7), or obesity (n = 9) interventions, with fewer targeting alcohol (n = 2) or tobacco (n = 2) use. Reviews of interventions focusing on individual behavior (such as education or counseling) were most common. Across diet, obesity, physical activity, and tobacco use, multicomponent interventions were consistently likely to be classified as "likely effective." Motivational interviewing and broad health promotion interventions were identified as "promising" for alcohol use., Conclusion: This umbrella review identified that multicomponent workplace interventions were effective to reduce NCD risk factors. There is a gap around interventions targeting alcohol use as most syntheses lacked enough studies to draw conclusions about effectiveness. Exploring the impact of interventions that utilize policy and/or environmental strategies is a critical gap for future research., (© The Author(s) [2024]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Journal of Occupational Health.)

Background: Digital health interventions (DHIs) are effective in improving poor nutrition, physical inactivity, overweight and obesity. There is evidence suggesting that the impact of DHIs may be enhanced by improving user engagement. However, little is known about the overall effectiveness of strategies on engagement with DHIs., Objective: This study aims to assess the overall effectiveness of strategies to improve engagement with DHIs targeting nutrition, physical activity, and overweight or obesity and explore associations between strategies and engagement outcomes. The secondary aim was to explore the impact of these strategies on health risk outcomes., Methods: The MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, CENTRAL, Scopus, and Academic Source Complete databases were searched up to July 24, 2023. Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials that evaluated strategies to improve engagement with DHIs and reported on outcomes related to DHI engagement (use or user experience). Strategies were classified according to behavior change techniques (BCTs) and design features (eg, supplementary emails). Multiple-variable meta-analyses of the primary outcomes (usage and user experience) were undertaken to assess the overall effectiveness of strategies. Meta-regressions were conducted to assess associations between strategies and use and user experience outcomes. Synthesis of secondary outcomes followed the "Synthesis Without Meta-Analysis" guidelines. The methodological quality and evidence was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation tool respectively., Results: Overall, 54 studies (across 62 publications) were included. Pooled analysis found very low-certainty evidence of a small-to-moderate positive effect of the use of strategies to improve DHI use (standardized mean difference=0.33, 95% CI 0.20-0.46; P<.001) and very low-certainty evidence of a small-to-moderate positive effect on user experience (standardized mean difference=0.29, 95% CI 0.07-0.52; P=.01). A significant positive association was found between the BCTs social support (effect size [ES]=0.40, 95% CI 0.14-0.66; P<.001) and shaping knowledge (ES=0.39, 95% CI 0.03-0.74; P=.03) and DHI use. A significant positive association was found among the BCTs social support (ES=0.70, 95% CI 0.18-1.22; P=.01), repetition and substitution (ES=0.29, 95% CI 0.05-0.53; P=.03), and natural consequences (ES=0.29, 95% CI 0.05-0.53; P=.02); the design features email (ES=0.29, 95% CI 0.05-0.53; P=.02) and SMS text messages (ES=0.34, 95% CI 0.11-0.57; P=.01); and DHI user experience. For secondary outcomes, 47% (7/15) of nutrition-related, 73% (24/33) of physical activity-related, and 41% (14/34) of overweight- and obesity-related outcomes reported an improvement in health outcomes., Conclusions: Although findings suggest that the use of strategies may improve engagement with DHIs targeting such health outcomes, the true effect is unknown because of the low quality of evidence. Future research exploring whether specific forms of social support, repetition and substitution, natural consequences, emails, and SMS text messages have a greater impact on DHI engagement is warranted., Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42018077333; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display&#95;record.php?RecordID=77333., (©Alice Grady, Nicole Pearson, Hannah Lamont, Lucy Leigh, Luke Wolfenden, Courtney Barnes, Rebecca Wyse, Meghan Finch, Matthew Mclaughlin, Tessa Delaney, Rachel Sutherland, Rebecca Hodder, Sze Lin Yoong. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 19.12.2023.)

Introduction: A significant number of individuals with a serious mental illness (SMI) such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are also parents of dependent children. Despite the risk of adverse psychological, behavioral, and social outcomes their needs often go unmet. To better understand the needs of parents with SMI and their children it is necessary to gain insight into the perspectives and experiences of the professionals in adult mental health and children's services who work with them, and who, ultimately, are best placed to meet those needs., Aims: To explore the views and experiences of health and social care professionals working with parents with SMI to understand the needs of, and their role supporting, parents with SMI and their children., Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seventeen professionals from six NHS and Local Authority settings in England, UK. Participants were included if they were employed in adult mental health or local authority children's services and had experience of working with parents with SMI. Sampling was purposive, including a wide range of professions in these settings. Interview data were analyzed using template analysis taking a critical realist perspective., Results: Three top-level themes were generated: (1) Impact of parental SMI on the child, (2) Accessing support from services, (3) Role of professionals working with parents with SMI. Themes highlight diverse, wide-ranging effects of SMI on the child and a reluctance from parents to seek help due to stigma and fear. Available services are reported to be inaccessible and unacceptable to parents with SMI and practitioners experience conflict when balancing the needs of the parent and child. A whole-family approach facilitated by improved communication between services is advocated., Conclusion: Participants believed that parents with SMI experience complex parenting challenges over and above other parents, describing a largely detrimental impact on the child. Support services were deemed inadequate, and participants stressed the need to develop specialist services tailored toward the needs of parents with SMI and their children. Although participants endorsed joined up working across health and social care settings to facilitate a whole family approach, they required greater service knowledge and training in parental SMI., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Oakes, Wolfenden, Drake, Calam and Gregg.)

Objective: Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a recommended setting for the delivery of health eating interventions 'at scale' (i.e. to large numbers of childcare services) to improve child public health nutrition. Appraisal of the 'scalability' (suitability for delivery at scale) of interventions is recommended to guide public health decision-making. This study describes the extent to which factors required to assess scalability are reported among ECEC-based healthy eating interventions., Design: Studies from a recent Cochrane systematic review assessing the effectiveness of healthy eating interventions delivered in ECEC for improving child dietary intake were included. The reporting of factors of scalability was assessed against domains outlined within the Intervention Scalability Assessment Tool (ISAT). The tool recommends decision makers consider the problem, the intervention, strategic and political context, effectiveness, costs, fidelity and adaptation, reach and acceptability, delivery setting and workforce, implementation infrastructure and sustainability. Data were extracted by one reviewer and checked by a second reviewer., Setting: ECEC., Participants: Children 6 months to 6 years., Results: Of thirty-eight included studies, none reported all factors within the ISAT. All studies reported the problem, the intervention, effectiveness and the delivery workforce and setting. The lowest reported domains were intervention costs (13 % of studies) and sustainability (16 % of studies)., Conclusions: Findings indicate there is a lack of reporting of some key factors of scalability for ECEC-based healthy eating interventions. Future studies should measure and report such factors to support policy and practice decision makers when selecting interventions to be scaled-up.

Background: Understanding the views of policy-makers and practitioners regarding how best to communicate research evidence is important to support research use in their decision-making., Aim: To quantify and describe public health policy-makers and practitioners' views regarding the source, content and form of messages describing public health research findings to inform their decision-making. We also sought to examine differences in preferences between public health policy-makers and practitioners., Methods: A cross sectional, value-weighting survey of policy-makers and practitioners was conducted. Participants were asked to allocate a proportion of 100 points across different (i) sources of research evidence, (ii) message content and (iii) the form in which evidence is presented. Points were allocated based on their rating of influence, usefulness and preference when making decisions about health policy or practice., Results: A total of 186 survey responses were received from 90 policy-makers and 96 practitioners. Researchers and government department agencies were the most influential source of research evidence based on mean allocation of points, followed by knowledge brokers, professional peers and associations. Mean point allocation for perceived usefulness of message content was highest for simple summary of key findings and implications, and then evidence-based recommendations and data and statistical summaries. Finally, based on mean scores, policy-makers and practitioners preferred to receive research evidence in the form of peer-reviewed publications, reports, evidence briefs and plain language summaries. There were few differences in scores between policy-makers and practitioners across source, message content or form assessments or those with experience in different behavioural areas., Conclusions: The findings should provide a basis for the future development and optimization of dissemination strategies to this important stakeholder group., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: The prevalence of e-cigarette use has increased globally amongst children and adolescents in recent years. In response to the increasing prevalence and emerging evidence about the potential harms of e-cigarettes in children and adolescents, leading public health organisations have called for approaches to address increasing e-cigarette use. Whilst evaluations of approaches to reduce uptake and use regularly appear in the literature, the collective long-term benefit of these is currently unclear., Objectives: The co-primary objectives of the review were to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent e-cigarette use in children and adolescents (aged 19 years and younger) with no prior use, relative to no intervention, waitlist control, usual practice, or an alternative intervention; and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to cease e-cigarette use in children and adolescents (aged 19 years and younger) reporting current use, relative to no intervention, waitlist control, usual practice, or an alternative intervention. Secondary objectives were to: (1) examine the effect of such interventions on child and adolescent use of other tobacco products (e.g. cigarettes, cigars types, and chewing tobacco); and (2) describe the unintended adverse effects of the intervention on individuals (e.g. physical or mental health of individuals), or on organisations (e.g. intervention displacement of key curricula or learning opportunities for school students) where such interventions are being implemented., Search Methods: We searched CENTRAL, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Ovid PsycINFO, EBSCO CINAHL, and Clarivate Web of Science Core Collection from inception to 1 May 2023. Additionally, we searched two trial registry platforms (WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform; US National Institutes of Health Ongoing Trials Register ClinicalTrials.gov), Google Scholar, and the reference lists of relevant systematic reviews. We contacted corresponding authors of articles identified as ongoing studies., Selection Criteria: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), including cluster-RCTs, factorial RCTs, and stepped-wedge RCTs. To be eligible, the primary targets of the interventions must have been children and adolescents aged 19 years or younger. Interventions could have been conducted in any setting, including community, school, health services, or the home, and must have sought to influence children or adolescent (or both) e-cigarette use directly. Studies with a comparator of no intervention (i.e. control), waitlist control, usual practice, or an alternative intervention not targeting e-cigarette use were eligible. We included measures to assess the effectiveness of interventions to: prevent child and adolescent e-cigarette use (including measures of e-cigarette use amongst those who were never-users); and cease e-cigarette use (including measures of e-cigarette use amongst children and adolescents who were e-cigarette current-users). Measures of e-cigarette use included current-use (defined as use in the past 30 days) and ever-use (defined as any lifetime use)., Data Collection and Analysis: Two review authors independently screened the titles and abstracts of references, with any discrepancies resolved through consensus. Pairs of review authors independently assessed the full-text articles for inclusion in the review. We planned for two review authors to independently extract information from the included studies and assess risk of bias using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool. We planned to conduct multiple meta-analyses using a random-effects model to align with the co-primary objectives of the review. First, we planned to pool interventions to prevent child and adolescent e-cigarette use and conduct two analyses using the outcome measures of 'ever-use' and 'current-use'. Second, we planned to pool interventions to cease child and adolescent e-cigarette use and conduct one analysis using the outcome measure of 'current-use'. Where data were unsuitable for pooling in meta-analyses, we planned to conduct a narrative synthesis using vote-counting approaches and to follow the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and the Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM) guidelines., Main Results: The search of electronic databases identified 7141 citations, with a further 287 records identified from the search of trial registries and Google Scholar. Of the 110 studies (116 records) evaluated in full text, we considered 88 to be ineligible for inclusion for the following reasons: inappropriate outcome (27 studies); intervention (12 studies); study design (31 studies); and participants (18 studies). The remaining 22 studies (28 records) were identified as ongoing studies that may be eligible for inclusion in a future review update. We identified no studies with published data that were eligible for inclusion in the review., Authors' Conclusions: We identified no RCTs that met the inclusion criteria for the review, and as such, there is no evidence available from RCTs to assess the potential impact of interventions targeting children and adolescent e-cigarette use, tobacco use, or any unintended adverse effects. Evidence from studies employing other trial designs (e.g. non-randomised) may exist; however, such studies were not eligible for inclusion in the review. Evidence from studies using non-randomised designs should be examined to guide actions to prevent or cease e-cigarette use. This is a living systematic review. We search for new evidence every month and update the review when we identify relevant new evidence. Please refer to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for the current status of this review., (Copyright © 2023 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Background: People with a mental health condition are more likely to engage in risk behaviours compared to people without. Delivery of preventive care to improve such behaviours is recommended for community mental health services, but inadequately implemented. This study assessed the effectiveness of an implementation support package on clinicians' delivery of preventive care (assessment, advice, referral) for four risk behaviours (tobacco smoking, harmful alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, inadequate fruit and vegetable intake) compared to no implementation support. The participatory approach to developing the support package, and fidelity of the implementation strategies, are also described., Methods: A non-randomised controlled trial was undertaken in 2019-2020 with two community mental health services (control and target) in one health district in New South Wales, Australia. A 4-month support package consisting of multiple implementation strategies was delivered to one site following a two-phase participatory design process. Five implementation strategies were proposed to service managers by researchers. After consultation with managers and clinicians, the final implementation support package included four strategies: training and education materials, enabling resources and prompts, client activation material, and audit and feedback. Client-reported receipt of the three elements of preventive care for the four risk behaviours was collected from a cross-sectional sample of clients who had recently attended the service at baseline (6 months) and follow-up (5 months). Logistic regression models examined change in receipt of preventive care to assess effectiveness., Results: A total of 860 client surveys were completed (control baseline n = 168; target baseline n = 261; control follow-up n = 164; and target follow-up n = 267). Analyses revealed no significant differential changes in preventive care receipt between the target and control sites from baseline to follow-up, including across the four primary outcomes: assessed for all behaviours (OR = 1.19; 95% CI 0.55, 2.57; p = 0.65); advised for all relevant risk behaviours (OR = 1.18; 95% CI 0.39, 3.61; p = 0.77); referred for any relevant risk behaviour (OR = 0.80; 95% CI 0.40, 1.63; p = 0.55); and complete care (OR = 3.11; 95% CI 0.62, 15.63; p = 0.17). Fidelity of the implementation strategies was limited as one of the four strategies (audit and feedback) was not delivered, components of two strategies (enabling resources and prompts, and client activation material) were not delivered as intended, and one strategy (education and training) was delivered as intended although some components were offered late in the implementation period., Conclusions: The implementation support package was ineffective at increasing preventive care delivery. Further investigation is required to determine optimal participatory design methods to develop effective implementation strategies, including those that support delivery of care in community mental health settings within the ongoing context of uncertain environmental challenges., Trial Registration: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12619001379101., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objective: Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) are an important resource to improve population health; however, little is known about the types of strategies to disseminate them. This study sought to describe dissemination strategies and content of dissemination plans that were available for FBDG., Design: A cross-sectional audit of FBDG with a published English-language version sourced from the United Nations FAO repository. We searched for publicly available dissemination strategies and any corresponding plans available in English language. Two authors extracted data on strategies, which were grouped according to the Model for Dissemination Research Framework (including source, audience, channel and message). For guidelines with a dissemination plan, we described goals, audience, strategies and expertise and resources according to the Canadian Institute for Health Research guidance., Setting: FBDG from fifty-three countries mostly from high-income ( n 28, 52·8 %), and upper-middle income ( n 18, 34 %) areas were included., Participants: n/a., Results: The source of guidelines was most frequently health departments (79·2 %). The message included quantities and types of foods, physical activity recommendations and 88·7 % included summarised versions of main messages. The most common channels were infographics and information booklets, and the main end-users were the public. For twelve countries (22·6 %), we were able to source an English-language dissemination plan, where none met all recommendations outlined by the Canadian Institute for Health Research., Conclusions: The public was the most frequently identified end-user and thus most dissemination strategies and plans focused on this group. Few FBDG had formal dissemination plans and of those there was limited detailed provided.

Objectives: Long-term delivery, or sustainability, of evidence-based interventions is necessary for public health benefits to be realised. However, sustainment of effective interventions is poor. Understanding the evidence-base and identifying potential gaps is necessary to inform where future research efforts are most warranted., Study Design: We undertook a repeat cross-sectional bibliographic review of research published in 10 public health journals across three time periods (2010, 2015 and 2020/2021)., Methods: Studies were eligible if they were a data-based study or review article. Studies were assessed as to whether they focused on sustainability. The percentage of public health research studies assessing sustainability overall and by the three time periods was calculated. The association between time period and the proportion of sustainability articles was assessed using logistic regression. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise study characteristics overall and by time period., Results: 10,588 data-based articles were identified, of which 1.3 % (n = 136) focused on sustainability. There was a statistically significant association between time period and the proportion of sustainability research, with a slight increase across the three time periods: 0.3 % (95 % CI: 0.1 %, 0.7 %) in 2010, 1.4 % (95 % CI: 1.0 %, 1.9 %) in 2015 and 1.6 % (95 % CI: 1.3 %, 1.9 %) in 2020/2021. Most research was descriptive/epidemiological (n = 69, 51 %), few focused on measurement (n = 2, 1.5 %) and none on cost effectiveness. Only one intervention study assessed the effect of specific sustainability strategies., Conclusions: This bibliographic review highlights the need for more public health research on sustainability, particularly in the areas of measurement, sustainability interventions, and cost effectiveness., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health.)

Background: Governments internationally have invested hugely in the implementation and scale-up of school-based physical activity interventions, but have little evidence of how to best sustain these interventions once active implementation support ceases. This study will assess the effectiveness of a multi-strategy sustainability intervention on classroom teachers' sustainment of energisers (short 3-5 min physical activity breaks during class-time) scheduled across the school day from baseline to 12 and 24-month follow-up., Methods: A cluster randomised controlled trial will be conducted in 50 primary schools within the Hunter New England, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Murrumbidgee and Northern New South Wales (NSW) Local Health Districts of NSW Australia. Schools will be randomly allocated to receive either usual support or the multi-strategy sustainability intervention that includes: centralised technical assistance from a trained project officer; formal commitment and mandated change obtained from school principals; training in-school champions; reminders for teachers; educational materials provided to teachers; capturing and sharing local knowledge; and engagement of parents, carers and the wider school community. The primary trial outcome will be measured via a teacher logbook to determine the between-group difference in the change in mean minutes of energisers scheduled across the school day at 12 and 24-month follow-up compared to baseline. Analyses will be performed using an intention to treat framework. Linear mixed models will be used to assess intervention effects on the primary outcome at both follow-up periods., Discussion: This study will be one of the first randomised controlled trials to examine the impact of a multi-strategy sustainability intervention to support schools' sustainment of a physical activity intervention. The proposed research will generate new evidence needed for the partnering organisations to protect their considerable investments to date in physical activity promotion in this setting and will provide seminal evidence for the field globally., Trial Registration: ACTRN12620000372987 version 1 registered 17 th March 2020. Version 3 (current version) updated 4 th August 2023., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: The monitoring of healthy eating and physical activity environments is recommended to support population health. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are a key setting to deliver obesity prevention strategies as they reach the majority of children aged under five years and have existing supporting infrastructure., Objectives: The aim of this study was to i) describe the prevalence of implementation of evidence-based healthy eating and physical activity practices in an Australian sample of ECEC services, and ii) examine associations between implementation of practices and service characteristics., Methods: A random sample of 2,100 centre-based ECEC services across Australia were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey online or via telephone (August 2021-April 2022). Service characteristics and implementation of 18 evidence-based healthy eating and physical activity practices were assessed. Descriptive statistics and linear mixed regression analyses were performed., Results: A total of 1,028 (51.8%) eligible services participated. The healthy eating and physical activity practices with the lowest prevalence of implementation were related to encouraging children to consume age-appropriate beverages (17.9%) and providing families with child physical activity education via workshops or meetings (14.6%), respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the implementation of healthy eating practices by service characteristics, with long day care services implementing significantly more practices than preschools (p < 0.01)., Conclusion: There is room to improve the implementation of evidence-based healthy eating and physical activity practices ECEC services. Implementation efforts should be directed towards preschools., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

In 2021, guidelines for early childhood education and care were released recommending children are provided access to outdoor areas during all free play sessions to reduce the risk of coronavirus disease of 2019 transmission, aligning with the existing recommendations to increase children's physical activity. There is a need to understand how to disseminate guidelines in this setting as dissemination is a prerequisite of adoption and implementation. This randomized controlled trial explored the impact of a video-based strategy to disseminate guidelines on family day care educators' intentions to adopt outdoor free play guidelines. Educators (N = 255) were randomized to receive a video (intervention) or text-based (usual care) resource via email describing recommendations. Educators were invited to participate in a post-intervention survey at 5-week follow-up assessing intentions to adopt guidelines. The secondary outcomes included knowledge, beliefs about capabilities, beliefs about consequences, social/professional role and identity, goals, implementation of guidelines, acceptability of resource and intervention reach. There was no statistically significant difference between groups in intentions to adopt guidelines [ß = 0.01 (95% confidence interval -0.50 to 0.52), P = 0.97], nor for any secondary outcomes. Further investigation is needed to identify effective dissemination strategies in the family day care setting to increase the adoption of public health guidelines., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Objectives: Health Promotion Units within New South Wales (NSW) local health districts (LHDs) frequently collaborate and test innovations to address priority health issues or approaches to support the implementation of a health promotion program in a way that is consistent with the needs, resources, and contexts of their regions. Compatible with learning health system approaches, mechanisms to facilitate the exchange of evidence and expertise across districts could improve the collective impact of health promotion services across the state. This study aimed to assess the use of a health promotion Community of Practice (CoP) model as a strategy to achieve this. Type of program or service: This paper describes and shares experiences from the development and piloting process of a CoP model to develop, evaluate and exchange learnings to improve approaches to support the adoption of an effective healthy lunchbox program ('SWAP IT') across three LHDs., Results: The functioning of the CoP was supported by key activities, funding and infrastructure over a 2-year period, including: planning workshops, implementation check-ins, and knowledge exchange meetings. A particularly novel aspect of the CoP was the harmonised evaluation of different, locally developed strategies to facilitate program adoption across the three LHDs. The alignment of the CoP with local and state priorities, as well as the operation of the CoP in a way that did not impose significant time demands, was seen as important for the sustainability of the CoP., Lessons Learnt: Findings from the piloting process suggest that a formalised CoP shows promise as an effective model to enhance health promotion collaboration, information sharing and practice across LHDs, which may be suitable for broader application across the state., Competing Interests: None declared.

Background: Physically Active Children in Education (PACE) is an effective implementation intervention for increasing the number of minutes classroom teachers schedule physical activity each week. To date, evaluations of PACE have included a smaller number of schools from only one region in New South Wales Australia. If PACE is to have population-wide benefits we must be able to deliver this support to a larger number of schools across multiple regions. This study aimed to evaluate the scale-up of PACE., Methods: An uncontrolled before and after study, with 100 schools from three regions was conducted. Participating schools received PACE for approximately 12 months. We assessed the following outcomes: delivery of the evidence-based intervention (EBI) (i.e. minutes of physical activity scheduled by classroom teachers per week); delivery of the implementation strategies (i.e. reach, dose delivered, adherence and indicators of sustainability); and key determinants of implementation (i.e. acceptability of strategies and cost). Data were collected via project officer records, and principal and teacher surveys. Linear mixed models were used to assess EBI delivery by evaluating the difference in the mean minutes teachers scheduled physical activity per week from baseline to follow-up. Descriptive data were used to assess delivery of the implementation strategies and their perceived acceptability (i.e. PACE). A prospective, trial-based economic evaluation was used to assess cost., Results: Delivery of the EBI was successful: teachers increas their average minutes of total physical activity scheduled across the school week by 26.8 min (95% CI: 21.2, 32.4, p < 0.001) after receiving PACE. Indicators for delivery of implementation strategies were high: 90% of consenting schools received all strategies and components (reach); 100% of strategies were delivered by the provider (dose); >50% of schools adhered to the majority of strategies (11 of the 14 components); and acceptability was > 50% agreement for all strategies. The incremental cost per additional minute of physical activity scheduled per week was $27 per school (Uncertainty Interval $24, $31)., Conclusions: PACE can be successfully delivered across multiple regions and to a large number of schools. Given the ongoing and scalable benefits of PACE, it is important that we continue to extend and improve this program while considering ways to reduce the associated cost., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Policy Points More rigorous methodologies and systematic approaches should be encouraged in the science of scaling. This will help researchers better determine the effectiveness of scaling, guide stakeholders in the scaling process, and ultimately increase the impacts of health innovations. The practice and the science of scaling need to expand worldwide to address complex health conditions such as noncommunicable and chronic diseases. Although most of the scaling experiences described in the literature are occurring in the Global South, most of the authors publishing on it are based in the Global North. As the science of scaling spreads across the world with the aim of reducing health inequities, it is also essential to address the power imbalance in how we do scaling research globally., Context: Scaling of effective innovations in health and social care is essential to increase their impact. We aimed to synthesize the evidence base on scaling and identify current knowledge gaps., Methods: We conducted an umbrella review according to the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers' Manual. We included any type of review that 1) focused on scaling, 2) covered health or social care, and 3) presented a methods section. We searched MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase, PsycINFO (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest), Academic Search Premier (EBSCO), and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global from their inception to August 6, 2020. We searched the gray literature using, e.g., Google and WHO-ExpandNet. We assessed methodological quality with AMSTAR2. Paired reviewers independently selected and extracted eligible reviews and assessed study quality. A narrative synthesis was performed., Findings: Of 24,269 records, 137 unique reviews were included. The quality of the 58 systematic reviews was critically low (n = 42). The most frequent review type was systematic review (n = 58). Most reported on scaling in low- and middle-income countries (n = 59), whereas most first authors were from high-income countries (n = 114). Most reviews concerned infectious diseases (n = 36) or maternal-child health (n = 28). They mainly focused on interventions (n = 37), barriers and facilitators (n = 29), frameworks (n = 24), scalability (n = 24), and costs (n = 14). The WHO/ExpandNet scaling definition was the definition most frequently used (n = 26). Domains most reported as influencing scaling success were building scaling infrastructure (e.g., creating new service sites) and human resources (e.g., training community health care providers)., Conclusions: The evidence base on scaling is evolving rapidly as reflected by publication trends, the range of focus areas, and diversity of scaling definitions. Our study highlights knowledge gaps around methodology and research infrastructures to facilitate equitable North-South research relationships. Common efforts are needed to ensure scaling expands the impacts of health and social innovations to broader populations., (© 2023 The Authors. The Milbank Quarterly published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Milbank Memorial Fund.)

Background: In 2016-17, the government of British Columbia (BC) enacted a mandatory policy outlining Active Play Standards (AP Standards) alongside a capacity building initiative (Appetite to Play) focused on implementing policies and practices to support physical activity in childcare centres. We aimed to identify factors at the provider and organizational levels as well as attributes of the Standards hypothesized to influence implementation (i.e., changes in policies and practices)., Methods: We conducted surveys before (2016-2017) and after (2018-2019) enforcement of the AP Standards among 146 group childcare centres across BC. The 2018-19 surveys measured theoretically based constructs associated with implementation of policies and practices (9 childcare- and 8 provider- level characteristics as well as 4 attributes of the licensing standards). Characteristics that were associated in simple regression models were entered in multivariable regression models to identify factors associated with policy and practice changes related to fundamental movement skills (FMS), screen time, total amount of active play (AP) and total amount of outdoor AP from baseline to follow-up., Results: In multivariable analyses, higher staff capacity (OR = 2.1, 95% 1.2, 3.7) and perceived flexibility of the standards (OR: 3.3, 95% 1.5, 7.1) were associated with higher odds of a policy change related to FMS. Higher staff commitment to the AP standards was associated with a higher odds of policy changes related to screen time (OR = 1.6, 95% CI: 1.1, 2.4) and amount of AP (OR: 1.5, 95% 1.0, 2.3). Higher institutionalization of PA policies was associated with a higher odds of policy changes related to the amount of AP (OR: 5.4, 95% CI: 1.5, 20). Higher self-efficacy was associated with a higher odds of policy changes related to outdoor AP (OR = 2.9, 95% 1.1, 7.8). Appetite to Play training was a positively associated with practice changes related to FMS (β = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.1, 0.9)., Conclusions: A hierarchy of theoretically defined factors influenced childcare providers' implementation of the AP Standards in BC. Future research should test the feasibility of modifying these factors to improve the implementation of PA policy and practice interventions in this setting., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: To facilitate the development of impactful research dissemination strategies, this study aimed to: (i) survey authors of trials included in a sample of Cochrane reviews to describe strategies to disseminate trial findings, and examine their association with academic and policy impacts and (ii) audit academic and policy impact of CPH reviews., Methods: Authors of 104 trials within identified Cochrane reviews completed survey items assessing the dissemination strategies. Field weighted citation (FWCI) data extracted from bibliographic databases served as a measure of academic impact of trials and CPH reviews. Policy and practice impacts of trials were assessed during the survey of trial authors using items based on the Payback Framework, and for CPH reviews using 'policy mention' data collected via Altmetric Explorer., Results: Among the included trials, univariate (but not multivariable) regression models revealed significant associations between the use of dissemination strategies (i.e. posts on social media; workshops with end-users; media-releases) and policy or practice impacts. No significant associations were reported between dissemination strategies and trial FWCI. The mean FWCI of CPH reviews suggest that they are cited 220% more than other reviews in their field., Conclusions: Comprehensive dissemination strategies are likely required to maximize the potential the potential impacts of public health research., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Dietary intake during early childhood can have implications on child health and developmental trajectories. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are recommended settings to deliver healthy eating interventions as they provide access to many children during this important period. Healthy eating interventions delivered in ECEC settings can include strategies targeting the curriculum (e.g. nutrition education), ethos and environment (e.g. menu modification) and partnerships (e.g. workshops for families). Despite guidelines supporting the delivery of healthy eating interventions in this setting, little is known about their impact on child health., Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of healthy eating interventions delivered in ECEC settings for improving dietary intake in children aged six months to six years, relative to usual care, no intervention or an alternative, non-dietary intervention. Secondary objectives were to assess the impact of ECEC-based healthy eating interventions on physical outcomes (e.g. child body mass index (BMI), weight, waist circumference), language and cognitive outcomes, social/emotional and quality-of-life outcomes. We also report on cost and adverse consequences of ECEC-based healthy eating interventions., Search Methods: We searched eight electronic databases including CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, Scopus and SportDiscus on 24 February 2022. We searched reference lists of included studies, reference lists of relevant systematic reviews, the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, ClinicalTrials.gov and Google Scholar, and contacted authors of relevant papers., Selection Criteria: We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), including cluster-RCTs, stepped-wedge RCTs, factorial RCTs, multiple baseline RCTs and randomised cross-over trials, of healthy eating interventions targeting children aged six months to six years that were conducted within the ECEC setting. ECEC settings included preschools, nurseries, kindergartens, long day care and family day care. To be included, studies had to include at least one intervention component targeting child diet within the ECEC setting and measure child dietary or physical outcomes, or both., Data Collection and Analysis: Pairs of review authors independently screened titles and abstracts and extracted study data. We assessed risk of bias for all studies against 12 criteria within RoB 1, which allows for consideration of how selection, performance, attrition, publication and reporting biases impact outcomes. We resolved discrepancies via consensus or by consulting a third review author. Where we identified studies with suitable data and homogeneity, we performed meta-analyses using a random-effects model; otherwise, we described findings using vote-counting approaches and via harvest plots. For measures with similar metrics, we calculated mean differences (MDs) for continuous outcomes and risk ratios (RRs) for dichotomous outcomes. We calculated standardised mean differences (SMDs) for primary and secondary outcomes where studies used different measures. We applied GRADE to assess certainty of evidence for dietary, cost and adverse outcomes., Main Results: We included 52 studies that investigated 58 interventions (described across 96 articles). All studies were cluster-RCTs. Twenty-nine studies were large (≥ 400 participants) and 23 were small (< 400 participants). Of the 58 interventions, 43 targeted curriculum, 56 targeted ethos and environment, and 50 targeted partnerships. Thirty-eight interventions incorporated all three components. For the primary outcomes (dietary outcomes), we assessed 19 studies as overall high risk of bias, with performance and detection bias being most commonly judged as high risk of bias. ECEC-based healthy eating interventions versus usual practice or no intervention may have a positive effect on child diet quality (SMD 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 0.65; P = 0.03, I 2 = 91%; 6 studies, 1973 children) but the evidence is very uncertain. There is moderate-certainty evidence that ECEC-based healthy eating interventions likely increase children's consumption of fruit (SMD 0.11, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.18; P < 0.01, I 2 = 0%; 11 studies, 2901 children). The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of ECEC-based healthy eating interventions on children's consumption of vegetables (SMD 0.12, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.25; P =0.08, I 2 = 70%; 13 studies, 3335 children). There is moderate-certainty evidence that ECEC-based healthy eating interventions likely result in little to no difference in children's consumption of non-core (i.e. less healthy/discretionary) foods (SMD -0.05, 95% CI -0.17 to 0.08; P = 0.48, I 2 = 16%; 7 studies, 1369 children) or consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SMD -0.10, 95% CI -0.34 to 0.14; P = 0.41, I 2 = 45%; 3 studies, 522 children). Thirty-six studies measured BMI, BMI z-score, weight, overweight and obesity, or waist circumference, or a combination of some or all of these. ECEC-based healthy eating interventions may result in little to no difference in child BMI (MD -0.08, 95% CI -0.23 to 0.07; P = 0.30, I 2 = 65%; 15 studies, 3932 children) or in child BMI z-score (MD -0.03, 95% CI -0.09 to 0.03; P = 0.36, I 2 = 0%; 17 studies; 4766 children). ECEC-based healthy eating interventions may decrease child weight (MD -0.23, 95% CI -0.49 to 0.03; P = 0.09, I 2 = 0%; 9 studies, 2071 children) and risk of overweight and obesity (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.01; P = 0.07, I 2 = 0%; 5 studies, 1070 children). ECEC-based healthy eating interventions may be cost-effective but the evidence is very uncertain (6 studies). ECEC-based healthy eating interventions may have little to no effect on adverse consequences but the evidence is very uncertain (3 studies). Few studies measured language and cognitive skills (n = 2), social/emotional outcomes (n = 2) and quality of life (n = 3)., Authors' Conclusions: ECEC-based healthy eating interventions may improve child diet quality slightly, but the evidence is very uncertain, and likely increase child fruit consumption slightly. There is uncertainty about the effect of ECEC-based healthy eating interventions on vegetable consumption. ECEC-based healthy eating interventions may result in little to no difference in child consumption of non-core foods and sugar-sweetened beverages. Healthy eating interventions could have favourable effects on child weight and risk of overweight and obesity, although there was little to no difference in BMI and BMI z-scores. Future studies exploring the impact of specific intervention components, and describing cost-effectiveness and adverse outcomes are needed to better understand how to maximise the impact of ECEC-based healthy eating interventions., (Copyright © 2023 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Objectives: To evaluate the support from the available guidance on reporting of health equity in research for our candidate items and to identify additional items for the Strengthening Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology-Equity extension., Study Design and Setting: We conducted a scoping review by searching Embase, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Methodology Register, LILACS, and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information up to January 2022. We also searched reference lists and gray literature for additional resources. We included guidance and assessments (hereafter termed "resources") related to conduct and/or reporting for any type of health research with or about people experiencing health inequity., Results: We included 34 resources, which supported one or more candidate items or contributed to new items about health equity reporting in observational research. Each candidate item was supported by a median of six (range: 1-15) resources. In addition, 12 resources suggested 13 new items, such as "report the background of investigators"., Conclusion: Existing resources for reporting health equity in observational studies aligned with our interim checklist of candidate items. We also identified additional items that will be considered in the development of a consensus-based and evidence-based guideline for reporting health equity in observational studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Although Luis Gabriel Cuervo is an official of the Pan American Health Organization, the views expressed in this publication are his sole responsibility and do not necessarily represent the decisions or policies of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO)., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: To maximise their potential benefits to communities, effective health behaviour interventions need to be implemented, ideally 'at scale', and are often adapted as part of this. To inform future implementation and scale-up efforts, this study broadly sought to understand (i) how often health behaviour interventions are implemented in communities, (ii) the adaptations that occur; (iii) how frequency it occurred 'at scale'; and (iv) factors associated with 'scale-up'., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of corresponding authors of trials (randomised or non-randomised) assessing the effects of preventive health behaviour interventions. Included studies of relevant Cochrane reviews served as a sampling frame. Participants were asked to report on the implementation and scale-up (defined as investment in large scale delivery by a (non)government organisation) of their intervention in the community following trial completion, adaptations made, and any research dissemination strategies employed. Information was extracted from published reports of the trial including assessments of effectiveness and risk of bias., Results: Authors of 104 trials completed the survey. Almost half of the interventions were implemented following trial completion (taking on average 19 months), and 54% of those were adapted prior to doing so. The most common adaptations were adding intervention components, and adapting the intervention to fit within the local service setting. Scale-up occurred in 33% of all interventions. There were no significant associations between research trial characteristics such as intervention effectiveness, risk of bias, setting, involvement of end-user, and incidence of scale-up. However the number of research dissemination strategies was positively associated to the odds of an intervention being scaled-up (OR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.88; p < 0.001)., Conclusions: Adaptation of implemented trials is often undertaken. Most health behaviour interventions are not implemented or scaled-up following trial completion. The use of a greater number of dissemination strategies may increase the likelihood of scaled up., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: State-based Guidelines were issued for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services (caring for children 0-6 years) recommending greater time outdoors and inclusion of indoor-outdoor programs to facilitate social distancing to reduce spread of COVID-19. The aim of this 3-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) was to examine the impact of different dissemination strategies on increasing ECEC service intentions to adopt recommendations from the Guidelines., Methods: This was a post-intervention only RCT. A sample of eligible ECEC services in New South Wales (n = 1026) were randomly allocated to one of three groups; (i) e-newsletter resource; (ii) animated video resource; or (iii) control (standard email). The intervention was designed to address key determinants of guideline adoption including awareness and knowledge. Following delivery of the intervention in September 2021, services were invited to participate in an online or telephone survey from October-December 2021. The primary trial outcome was the proportion of services intending to adopt the Guidelines, defined as intention to; (i) offer an indoor-outdoor program for the full day; or (ii) offer more outdoor play time. Secondary outcomes included awareness, reach, knowledge and implementation of the Guidelines. Barriers to Guideline implementation, cost of the dissemination strategies and analytic data to measure fidelity of intervention delivery were also captured., Results: Of the 154 services that provided post-intervention data, 58 received the e-newsletter (37.7%), 50 received the animated video (32.5%), and 46 received the control (29.9%). Services who received the animated video had nearly five times the odds (OR: 4.91 [1.03, 23.34] p = 0.046) than those in the control group, to report having intentions to adopt the Guidelines. There were no statistically significant differences in awareness or knowledge of the Guidelines between either intervention or control services. Development costs were greatest for the animated video. The extent to which the dissemination strategy was viewed in full, were similar for both the e-newsletter and animated video., Conclusion: This study found potential for the inclusion of interactive strategies to disseminate policy and guideline information within the ECEC setting, in the context of the need for rapid communication. Further research should explore the added benefits of embedding such strategies within a multi-strategy intervention., Trial Registration: Retrospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) on the 23/02/2023 (ACTRN 12,623,000,198,628)., (© 2023. Crown.)

Objectives: This report aims to evaluate the acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and adoption of a healthy lunchbox program (SWAP IT), from the parent perspective., Methods: SWAP IT is an mobile health (m-Health) program aimed to support parents in swapping out discretionary foods for healthier alternatives. Following receipt of the program, parents completed validated scales assessing the Acceptability (AIM), Intervention Appropriateness (IAM), and Feasibility (FIM) via a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI). Parents were asked about their awareness of strategies in SWAP IT and whether the program supported them to make lunchbox swaps from discretionary to everyday foods., Results: Of the 679 parents who consented, 413 completed the CATI (61% response rate). Parent's mean AIM score (out of a total score of 5) was 4.22 (SD 0.48); FIM score was 4.27 (SD 0.54); and IAM score was 4.24 (SD 0.54). Most parents reported receiving the lunchbox messages (54%), with 45% reporting opening all 10 messages and 64% of parents reporting the program helped swap out discretionary foods., Conclusion: The m-Health lunchbox program, SWAP IT, is highly acceptable, easy to adopt, appropriate, and feasible to parents., Implications to Public Health: Not only is SWAP IT effective, but favourable implementation factors highlight the potential scalability of the program in improving child nutrition., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)