Abstract
BackgroundThe Eat Well Campaign (EWC) was a social marketing campaign developed by Health Canada and disseminated to the public with the help of cross-sector partners. The purpose of this study was to describe factors that influenced cross-sector partners’ decision to adopt the EWC.MethodsThematic content analysis, based primarily on an a priori codebook of constructs from Roger’s diffusion of innovations decision process model, was conducted on hour-long semi-structured telephone interviews with Health Canada’s cross-sector partners (n = 18).ResultsDominant themes influencing cross-sector partners’ decision to adopt the EWC were: high compatibility with the organization’s values; being associated with Health Canada; and low perceived complexity of activities. Several adopters indicated that social norms (e.g., knowing that other organizations in their network were involved in the collaboration) played a strong role in their decision to participate, particularly for food retailers and small organizations. The opportunity itself to work in partnership with Health Canada and other organizations was seen as a prominent relative advantage by many organizations. Adopters were characterized as having high social participation and positive attitudes towards health, new ideas and Health Canada. The lack of exposure to the mass media channels used to diffuse the campaign and reserved attitudes towards Health Canada were prominent obstacles identified by a minority of health organizations, which challenged the decision to adopt the EWC. Most other barriers were considered as minor challenges and did not appear to impede the adoption process.ConclusionsUnderstanding factors that influence cross-sector adoption of nutrition initiatives can help decision makers target the most appropriate partners to advance public health objectives. Government health agencies are likely to find strong partners in organizations that share the same values as the initiative, have positive attitudes towards health, are extremely implicated in social causes and value the notion of partnership.
Highlights
The Eat Well Campaign (EWC) was a social marketing campaign developed by Health Canada and disseminated to the public with the help of cross-sector partners
Recruitment of Retail Association 2 members into the EWC was done through a third party and non-adopters remained anonymous to Health Canada (HC)
All 13 Canadian Provinces and Territories adopted the EWC as well as Federal health organizations who were already involved in working groups that were mandated to support the EWC
Summary
The Eat Well Campaign (EWC) was a social marketing campaign developed by Health Canada and disseminated to the public with the help of cross-sector partners. Major health agencies in the US and Canada have recognized that leveraging the resources and the power of stakeholders (including influencers in private and public sectors) through partnerships is essential to shift the paradigm of poor eating patterns [4, 5]. During fiscal restraint, leveraging resources and expertise through partnerships becomes an attractive mechanism for governments to address complex issues such as obesity and chronic disease prevention [7]. Multisector or cross-sector partnership benefits for governments include greater reach through access to new networks, sharing resources and technology, increasing potential for innovation, leveraging resources and expertise and greater consistency in health messages through a concerted effort [2, 8]. Despite the budding potential for win-win cross-sector partnerships, there are demonstrable [10] and potential [9] conflicts of interest that need to be considered and managed carefully as not to undermine public health goals
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