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Hutting N.1, Derksen E.1,2, Orbon K.2, den Heijer R.2, Engels J.A.1
1HAN University of Applied Sciences, Research Group Occupation & Health, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 2HAN University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, Sports and Exercise, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Background: Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health. Overweight is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, musculoskeletal, and some cancers.
According to the (World Health Organization, WHO), worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults of 18 years and older, were overweight (39%). Of these, over 600 million (13%) were obese. In the Netherlands, in 2012 about 48% of the people of 18 years and older were overweight, about 13% of these were obese (Gezondheidsmonitor GGD, 2012).
The community of Bronckhorst is a rural community in the Netherlands. The community has about 37.000 inhabitants, living in one of the 44 villages and hamlets. The percentage of overweight in the community is about 53%, which is 5% above the average of the Netherlands. Because obesity is preventable and a risk factor non-communicable diseases it is important to reduce the percentage of overweight people and to facilitate a healthy lifestyle.
According to the (World Health Organization, WHO), worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults of 18 years and older, were overweight (39%). Of these, over 600 million (13%) were obese. In the Netherlands, in 2012 about 48% of the people of 18 years and older were overweight, about 13% of these were obese (Gezondheidsmonitor GGD, 2012).
The community of Bronckhorst is a rural community in the Netherlands. The community has about 37.000 inhabitants, living in one of the 44 villages and hamlets. The percentage of overweight in the community is about 53%, which is 5% above the average of the Netherlands. Because obesity is preventable and a risk factor non-communicable diseases it is important to reduce the percentage of overweight people and to facilitate a healthy lifestyle.
Purpose: Together with a German rural community with similar problems, a project named 'The Healthy Lifestyle Community' was set up with the main goal to motivate and facilitate civilians to adopt a healthy lifestyle and to create the necessary boundary conditions within the community.
Together with the civilians the following questions will be solved:
1) What is a healthy lifestyle and how can you adopt a healthy lifestyle?
2) What can the community do to support a healthy lifestyle of civilians?
3) How can people influence and take responsibility for their own well-being and personal quality of life?
The project will result in a healthy lifestyle program targeting individuals and the community.
Together with the civilians the following questions will be solved:
1) What is a healthy lifestyle and how can you adopt a healthy lifestyle?
2) What can the community do to support a healthy lifestyle of civilians?
3) How can people influence and take responsibility for their own well-being and personal quality of life?
The project will result in a healthy lifestyle program targeting individuals and the community.
Methods: An intervention mapping (IM) method, was used to answer te above mentioned questions. The IM protocol (Bartholomew et al., 2016) is stepwise approach for theory and evidence-based development and implementation of interventions and describes the iterative path from problem identification to problem solving or mitigation. During the IM process a participatory method, including civilians was used. In the needs assessment (Step 1 IM protocol) both quantitative as well as quantitative research methods
(focus groups, interviews) were used.
Results: The project resulted in a clear description of the health problem. The focus groups provided an insight in the perspective of the civilians and health care professionals. The quantitative analyses revealed 3 subgroups that should be targeted by the intervention. The participatory design resulted in a co-designed intervention website.
Conclusion(s): The project resulted in an intervention program for the target population including individualized interventions (workshops, courses, self-management sessions), community based interventions (events, meetings, involvement of relevant stakeholders) and an intervention website (including recipes, forum, information about a healthy lifestyle and map function). Moreover, an implementation and evaluation plan were developed.
Implications: The results of this project will be used to motivate and facilitate civilians in the community of Bronckhorst to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Together with the results of the German part of the study, parts of the developed program can be used in other populations.
Funding acknowledgements: This project was funded by the INTERREG-Programme Germany-Netherlands of the European Union
Topic: Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing
Ethics approval: No ethics approval was necessary for this project (declared by the Medical Ethics Advisory if the HAN University, Nijmegen
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
