A Community-Driven Approach to Generate Urban Policy Recommendations for Obesity Prevention

Julia Díez, Pedro Gullón, María Sandín Vázquez, Belén Álvarez, María Del Prado Martín, María Urtasun, Maite Gamarra, Joel Gittelsohn and Manuel Franco
Additional contact information
Julia Díez: Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, Universidad de Alcala, Alcala de Henares, 28871 Madrid, Spain
Pedro Gullón: Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, Universidad de Alcala, Alcala de Henares, 28871 Madrid, Spain
María Sandín Vázquez: Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, Universidad de Alcala, Alcala de Henares, 28871 Madrid, Spain
Belén Álvarez: Public Health Institute of Madrid, Madrid City Council, 28007 Madrid, Spain
María Del Prado Martín: Resident of Villaverde, 28021 Madrid, Spain
María Urtasun: Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, Universidad de Alcala, Alcala de Henares, 28871 Madrid, Spain
Maite Gamarra: Municipal office in Villaverde, Madrid City Council, 28021 Madrid, Spain
Joel Gittelsohn: Global Obesity Prevention Center (GOPC) at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Manuel Franco: Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, Universidad de Alcala, Alcala de Henares, 28871 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: There is an increasing research interest in targeting interventions at the neighborhood level to prevent obesity. Healthy urban environments require including residents’ perspectives to help understanding how urban environments relate to residents’ food choices and physical activity levels. We describe an innovative community-driven process aimed to develop environmental recommendations for obesity prevention. We conducted this study in a low-income area in Madrid (Spain), using a collaborative citizen science approach. First, 36 participants of two previous Photovoice projects translated their findings into policy recommendations, using an adapted logical framework approach. Second, the research team grouped these recommendations into strategies for obesity prevention, using the deductive analytical strategy of successive approximation. Third, through a nominal group session including participants, researchers, public health practitioners and local policy-makers, we discussed and prioritized the obesity prevention recommendations. Participants identified 12 policy recommendations related to their food choices and 18 related to their physical activity. The research team grouped these into 11 concrete recommendations for obesity prevention. The ‘top-three’ ranked recommendations were: (1) to adequate and increase the number of public open spaces; (2) to improve the access and cost of existing sports facilities and (3) to reduce the cost of gluten-free and diabetic products.

Keywords: obesity; healthy food; physical activity; urban environment; built environment; Photovoice; citizen science; policy recommendations; community-based participatory research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:4:p:635-:d:138838

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