Co-Designing an Intervention to Prevent Overweight and Obesity among Young Children and Their Families in a Disadvantaged Municipality: Methodological Barriers and Potentials

Didde Hoeeg, Ulla Christensen and Dan Grabowski
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Didde Hoeeg: Department of Health Promotion, Steno Diabetes Centre Copenhagen, 2820 Gentofte, Denmark
Ulla Christensen: Department of Public Health, Section of Social Medicine, University of Copenhagen, 1599 Copenhagen, Denmark
Dan Grabowski: Department of Health Promotion, Steno Diabetes Centre Copenhagen, 2820 Gentofte, Denmark

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-15

Abstract: Design-based research (DBR) is an innovative methodology for co-creation, but potentials, challenges, and differences between methodological ideals and the real-life intervention context are under-researched. This study analyzes the DBR process in which researchers, professionals, and families co-design a family-based intervention to prevent childhood overweight and obesity in a rural municipality. It involves interviews with six key stakeholders in the co-design process. Data were coded and analyzed using systematic text condensation, while the theory of the “social effectiveness of interventions” developed by Rod et al. (2014) was used as an analytical tool for unpacking the co-creation process and exploring methodological barriers and potentials. The DBR approach contributed with a feeling that everyone’s perspective was important, and the professionals got a new perspective on the families’ experiences with healthy living they did not previously consider. We also found that the iterative design process did not fully align with the organizational structures in the municipality or with the needs of stakeholders, leading to friction in the partnership. This study emphasizes the complexity of using an anti-hierarchical approach within a hierarchical context, and the importance of being aware of how the DBR approach shapes the partnership, as well as of how the social dynamics within the partnership shape the design process.

Keywords: co-designing; design-based research; prevention; childhood obesity; families; municipal health professionals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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