Browsing by Author "Luszczynska, Aleksandra"
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- Adolescents' capacity to take action on obesity: A concurrent controlled before‐and‐after study of the European CO‐CREATE projectPublication . Herstad, Sondre Haugsbø; Grewal, Navnit Kaur; Banik, Anna; Klepp, Knut‐Inge; Knai, Cecile; Luszczynska, Aleksandra; Mendes, Sofia; Rito, Ana; Rutter, Harry; Lien, NannaThis study evaluated the effect on reported readiness for action and attitudes toward obesity prevention among older adolescents (mean age 17) who took part in a youth-led participatory action research European initiative (CO-CREATE Youth Alliances)compared with a comparison group that acted as controls. This was a concurrent before-and-after controlled study across five countries and took place between September 2019 and October 2020. Adolescents (n=159) recruited from schools and youth organizations came together with researchers and formed 15 Youth Alliances. An online questionnaire measuring their readiness for action and attitudes toward obesity prevention was administered. Alliance members (n=62) who filled in the questionnaire at both baseline and postinitiative, and adolescents from the comparison group (n=132) who completed the questionnaire twice were included in the main analysis. Two-level linear mixed models controlling for country-related variance were fitted. Alliance members scored significantly higher than the comparison group on two factors in each of the readiness for action, responsibility, and drivers of behavior concepts. The findings suggest that involving youth in co-creating policies to prevent obesity may increase adolescents' readiness for action and promote a shift in adolescents' conceptualization of obesity from an individual perspective to a societal responsibility and drivers of behavior.
- Co‐creating obesity prevention policies with youth: Policy ideas generated through the CO‐CREATE projectPublication . Conway‐Moore, Kaitlin; Knai, Cécile; Finegood, Diane; Johnston, Lee; Brinsden, Hannah; Aguiar, Anaely; Kopainsky, Birgit; Önal, Furkan; Helleve, Arnfinn; Klepp, Knut‐Inge; Lien, Nanna; Luszczynska, Aleksandra; Rito, Ana Isabel; Rønnestad, Alfred Mestad; Ulstein, Madeleine; Blanchard, Laurence; Savona, Natalie; Rutter, HarryDespite growing recognition of the importance of applying a systems lens to action on obesity, there has only been limited analysis of the extent to which this lens has actually been applied. The CO-CREATE project used a youth-led participatory action research approach to generate policy ideas towards the reduction of adolescent overweight and obesity across Europe. In order to assess the extent to which these youth-generated policy ideas take a systems approach, we analyzed them using the Intervention Level Framework (ILF). The ILF ascribes actions to one of five system levels, from Structural Elements, the least engaged with system change, up to Paradigm, which is the system's deepest held beliefs and thus the most difficult level at which to intervene. Of the 106 policy ideas generated by young people during the CO-CREATE project, 91 (86%) were categorized at the level of Structural Elements. This emphasis on operational rather than systems level responses echoes findings from a previous study on obesity strategies. Analyzing the distribution of systems level responses using the ILF has the potential to support more effective action on obesity by allowing identification of opportunities to strengthen systems level responses overall.
- Democratising participatory health promotion: power and knowledge involved in engaging European adolescents in childhood obesity preventionPublication . Baillergeau, Evelyne; Veltkamp, Gerlieke; Bröer, Christian; Helleve, Arnfinn; Kulis, Ewa; Lien, Nanna; Luszczynska, Aleksandra; Mendes, Sofia; Rito, Ana; Moerman, Gerben; Sauvage Nolting, Rein de; Klepp, Knut-IngePublic policy aimed at preventing undesired phenomena has increasingly sought to engage representatives of the target population. Little is known, however, about how power dynamics function to shape the processes and outcomes of risk governance engagement interventions. In order to study the ways in which, and the extent to which, power differentials can be reduced in participatory health promotion initiatives, we develop a conceptual framework synthetising theories of participatory action, phenomenology and governmentality. Based on the empirical research into youth participation in the EU project CO-CREATE, involving 15–19-year-old adolescents in five European countries (2019–2021), we show that diverse forms of knowledge may become available in engagement interventions. We analyse the use and relative inclusion and exclusion of these different forms of knowledge in terms of a three-level framework of different depths of democratisation in participatory health promotion: risk management, risk definition and risk negotiation. Advanced democratisation can only be achieved if risk negotiation is carried out in ways which embrace and encourage a range of different, and potentially conflicting forms of knowing.
- Encouraging greater empowerment for adolescents in consent procedures in social science research and policy projectsPublication . Samdal, Oddrun; Budin‐Ljøsne, Isabelle; Haug, Ellen; Helland, Trond; Kjostarova‐Unkovska, Lina; Bouillon, Claire; Bröer, Christian; Corell, Maria; Cosma, Alina; Currie, Dorothy; Eriksson, Charli; Felder‐Puig, Rosemarie; Gaspar, Tania; Hagquist, Curt; Harbron, Janetta; Jåstad, Atle; Kelly, Colette; Knai, Cecile; Kleszczewska, Dorota; Kysnes, Bjarte Birkeland; Lien, Nanna; Luszczynska, Aleksandra; Moerman, Gerben; Moreno‐Maldonado, Concepcion; NicGabhainn, Saoirse; Pudule, Iveta; Rakic, Jelena Gudelj; Rito, Ana; Rønnestad, Alfred Mestad; Ulstein, Madeleine; Rutter, Harry; Klepp, Knut‐IngeThe United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes the importance of allowing children and adolescents to influence decisions that are important to them following their age and maturity. This paper explores the principles, practices, and implications around using parental versus child/adolescent consent when participating in social science research and policy development. Experiences from two studies are presented: The Confronting Obesity: Co-creating policy with youth (CO-CREATE) and the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborative Cross-National study. Although parental consent may be an important gatekeeper for protecting children and adolescents from potentially harmful research participation, it may also be considered an obstacle to the empowerment of children and adolescents in case they want to share their views and experiences directly. This paper argues that evaluation of possible harm should be left to ethics committees and that, if no harm related to the research participation processes is identified and the project has a clear perspective on collaborating with the target group, adolescents from the age of 12 years should be granted the legal capacity to give consent to participate in the research project. Collaboration with adolescents in the development of the research project is encouraged.
- Ethical considerations in engaging young people in European obesity prevention research: The CO‐CREATE experiencePublication . Budin‐Ljøsne, Isabelle; Ayuandini, Sherria; Baillergeau, Evelyne; Bröer, Christian; Helleve, Arnfinn; Klepp, Knut‐Inge; Kysnes, Bjarte; Lien, Nanna; Luszczynska, Aleksandra; Nesrallah, Samantha; Rito, Ana; Rutter, Harry; Samdal, Oddrun; Savona, Natalie; Veltkamp, GerliekeEngaging youth in obesity prevention research and policy action is essential to develop strategies that are relevant and sensitive to their needs. Research with young people requires critical reflection to safeguard their rights, dignity, and wellbeing. The CO-CREATE project used various methods to engage approximately 300 European youth aged 15–19 years in the development of policies to prevent adolescent obesity. This paper discusses ethical considerations made in the project pertaining to the youth's voluntary participation, their protection from obesity stigma, respect for their time, data privacy and confidentiality, power balance, and equality of opportunity to participate in the research. We describe measures implemented to prevent or limit the emergence of ethical challenges in our interaction with youth and discuss their relevance based on our experience with implementation. While some challenges seemingly were prevented, others arose related to the youth's voluntary participation, time burdens on them, and the sustainability of participation under the Covid-19 pandemic. Concrete and ongoing ethical guidance may be useful in projects aiming to interact and build collaborative relationships with youth for long periods of time.
- Recruiting and engaging adolescents in creating overweight and obesity prevention policies: The CO‐CREATE projectPublication . Bröer, Christian; Ayuandini, Sherria; Baillergeau, Evelyne; Moerman, Gerben; Veltkamp, Gerlieke; Luszczynska, Aleksandra; Budin‐Ljøsne, Isabelle; Rito, Ana Isabel; Stensdal, Maja; Lien, Nanna; Klepp, Knut‐IngeThe CO-CREATE project aims to collaborate with adolescents across Europe in developing policy ideas that contribute to overweight and obesity prevention. In this paper, we present the theoretical basis and methodological approach to recruitment and engagement in the project. The principles of youth-led participatory action research were employed to design Youth Alliances in which adolescents and adults could collaborate. These Alliances should serve to promote and support adolescent participation and to develop policy ideas that would contribute to obesity prevention. Alliance members were recruited in two local geographical areas per country with a focus on reaching out to underrepresented youth. We started with fieldwork to assess locally relevant forms of inclusion and exclusion. The methodology entailed a handbook combining existing tools which could be used flexibly, a collaborative organization, and budgets for the alliances. Engagement started in local organizations, that is, schools and scouts, and with peers. Health- and overweight-related challenges were addressed in their immediate surroundings and supported the inclusion of experiential knowledge. Adolescents were then supported to address the wider obesogenic system when designing policy ideas. The CO-CREATE Alliances provide a concrete example of how to engage youth in public health, in a manner that strives to be participatory, transformative, and inquiry based.
- What policies are there and what policies are missing? A Photovoice study of adolescents' perspectives on obesity‐prevention policies in their local environmentPublication . Banik, Anna; Knai, Cecile; Klepp, Knut‐Inge; Rutter, Harry; Rito, Ana; Lien, Nanna; Baillergeau, Evelyne; Szczuka, Zofia; Boberska, Monika; Kulis, Ewa; Luszczynska, AleksandraThe aim of this study was to investigate adolescents' critical awareness of whether obesity prevention policies targeting physical activity (PA) and nutrition were operating in their local community. Participants were 41 adolescents (aged 16–18, 90%women) recruited from three communities in Poland. Prior to this study, they were involved in obesity-prevention participatory initiatives (conducted within the CO-CREATE project), where obesity-related public policy limitations were analyzed in a youth-led discussion. A Photovoice exercise was designed to capture obesity-related public policies that were either present or absent in young people's local environments. The photographs (N=213) were coded and mapped according to the policy themes they illustrated, using the MOVING and NOURISHING frameworks. The public policies represented in the photographs are most frequently related to: healthy retail or food service environments; food advertising or promotion; structures and surroundings that promote PA; and infrastructure and opportunities that support public or active transport. Adolescents are critically aware of the presence and lack of specific public policies operating in their local environment, particularly policies affecting structural aspects of food and PA environments. Policy-oriented photovoice exercises may prompt critical awareness among adolescents and empower them to contribute to obesity prevention policy processes.KEYWORDSadolescence, framework, obesity prevention policies, PhotovoiceAbbreviations:CO-CREATE, confronting obesity: co-creating policy with youth; PA, physical activity; SES, socioeconomic status; YPAR, youth-led participatory action research.Received: 11 April 2023 Revised: 15 June 2023 Accepted: 13 July 2023DOI: 10.1111/obr.13617This is an open access article under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialLicense, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.