What policies are there and what policies are missing? A Photovoice study of adolescents' perspectives on obesity‐prevention policies in their local environment

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

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Ana Rito: Departamento de Alimentação e Nutrição do INSA; Centre for Studies and Research in Social Dynamics and Health - CEIDSS.
Part of Special Issue: The CO‐CREATE Project:Co‐creating policy with youth