TY - JOUR
T1 - Challenges, opportunities and solutions for local physical activity stakeholders
T2 - an implementation case study from a cross-sectoral physical activity network in Northeast England
AU - Rigby, Benjamin P.
AU - Graaf, Peter van der
AU - Beretta De Azevedo, Liane
AU - Hayes, Louise
AU - Gardner, Benjamin
AU - Dodd-Reynolds, Caroline J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Fuse was established and funded by the UK Clinical Research Centres (UKCRC) in 2008 and is one of five Public Health Research Centres of Excellence. To ensure evidence-informed practice through the pooling of expertise and the co-creation and translation of high-quality relevant and useable research, Fuse’s innovative and collaborative approach to translational research has been to use local stakeholder and public engagement, to build relationships and influence the development of regional agenda for policy, practice and research. This work includes a fully developed communications function and knowledge brokerage.
Funding Information:
CDR, LH, LA and BR conceived the idea for the study. Workshop one, including focus group design, was developed by LH, LA and CDR. Workshop two was designed by CDR and BR, with support from LH and LA. Ethics approval was sought by LH and transcriptions were funded by Fuse. Data were collected by BR, CDR, LH and LA, with support of further members of the Fuse PAN acknowledged below. Analyses were undertaken by BR, BG and CDR, and data were interpreted with the support of all authors. The manuscript was drafted by BR, CDR and PVDG, and commented on and approved by all authors.
Funding Information:
This article presents findings from independent research, partly funded by Fuse (UKCRC grant reference: MR/K02325X/1). Peter van der Graaf and Louise Hayes are members of Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health (www.fuse.ac.uk). Fuse is a UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Funding for Fuse from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, under the auspices of the UKCRC, is gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent those of the funders or UKCRC. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11/23
Y1 - 2020/11/23
N2 - BackgroundIncreasingly, national policy initiatives and programmes have been developed to increase physical activity (PA). However, challenges in implementing and translating these policies into effective local-level programmes have persisted, and change in population PA levels has been small. This may be due to insufficient attention given to the implementation context, and the limited interactions between local policy-makers, practitioners and researchers. In this paper we use a case study of a cross-sectoral network in Northeast England, to identify the local-level challenges and opportunities for implementing PA policies and programmes, particularly the updated 2019 UK PA guidelines.MethodsFive focus groups (n = 59) were conducted with practice partners, local policy-makers and researchers during an initial workshop in April 2018. Through facilitated discussion, participants considered regional priorities for research and practice, along with barriers to implementing this agenda and how these may be overcome. During a second workshop in December 2018, overarching findings from workshop one were fedback to a similar group of stakeholders, along with national policy-makers, to stimulate feedback from delegates on experiences that may support the implementation of the UK PA guidelines locally, focusing on specific considerations for research, evidence and knowledge exchange.ResultsIn workshop one, three overarching themes were developed to capture local challenges and needs: (i) understanding complexity and context; (ii) addressing the knowledge and skills gap; and (iii) mismatched timescales and practices. In workshop two, participants’ implementation plans encompassed: (i) exploring a systems approach to implementation; (ii) adapting policy to context; and (iii) local prioritising.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that academics, practitioners and policy-makers understand the complexities of implementing PA strategies, and the challenges of knowledge exchange. The updated UK PA guidelines policy presented an opportunity for multiple agencies to consider context-specific implementation and address enduring tensions between stakeholders. An organically derived implementation plan that prioritises PA, maps links to relevant local policies and supports a context-appropriate communication strategy, within local policy, practice and research networks, will help address these. We present 10 guiding principles to support transferable knowledge exchange activities within networks to facilitate implementation of national PA policy in local contexts.
AB - BackgroundIncreasingly, national policy initiatives and programmes have been developed to increase physical activity (PA). However, challenges in implementing and translating these policies into effective local-level programmes have persisted, and change in population PA levels has been small. This may be due to insufficient attention given to the implementation context, and the limited interactions between local policy-makers, practitioners and researchers. In this paper we use a case study of a cross-sectoral network in Northeast England, to identify the local-level challenges and opportunities for implementing PA policies and programmes, particularly the updated 2019 UK PA guidelines.MethodsFive focus groups (n = 59) were conducted with practice partners, local policy-makers and researchers during an initial workshop in April 2018. Through facilitated discussion, participants considered regional priorities for research and practice, along with barriers to implementing this agenda and how these may be overcome. During a second workshop in December 2018, overarching findings from workshop one were fedback to a similar group of stakeholders, along with national policy-makers, to stimulate feedback from delegates on experiences that may support the implementation of the UK PA guidelines locally, focusing on specific considerations for research, evidence and knowledge exchange.ResultsIn workshop one, three overarching themes were developed to capture local challenges and needs: (i) understanding complexity and context; (ii) addressing the knowledge and skills gap; and (iii) mismatched timescales and practices. In workshop two, participants’ implementation plans encompassed: (i) exploring a systems approach to implementation; (ii) adapting policy to context; and (iii) local prioritising.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that academics, practitioners and policy-makers understand the complexities of implementing PA strategies, and the challenges of knowledge exchange. The updated UK PA guidelines policy presented an opportunity for multiple agencies to consider context-specific implementation and address enduring tensions between stakeholders. An organically derived implementation plan that prioritises PA, maps links to relevant local policies and supports a context-appropriate communication strategy, within local policy, practice and research networks, will help address these. We present 10 guiding principles to support transferable knowledge exchange activities within networks to facilitate implementation of national PA policy in local contexts.
KW - Physical activity
KW - Translational research
KW - Policy
KW - Networks
KW - Complexity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096455762&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12889-020-09847-3
DO - 10.1186/s12889-020-09847-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 33228613
VL - 20
JO - BMC Public Health
JF - BMC Public Health
SN - 1471-2458
IS - 1
M1 - 1760
ER -