Disseminating and contextualizing the results of the provincial assessment of healthy eating and active living policies and programs in Nova Scotia

Childhood obesity is a major public health concern in Canada and schools are acknowledged as an essential point of intervention to support obesity prevention. In 2003, the Children's Lifestyle and School Performance Study (CLASS) demonstrated the extent of issue in Nova Scotia by identifying that 32.9% of Grade 5 children were overweight and 9.9% were obese. Over the past eight years, the provincial government has invested resources in policies and programs to support healthier behaviours among Nova Scotia children. In 2009, CLASS II set out to explore the impact of changes at four different levels: (1) Provincial Government; (2) School Boards; (3) practices across schools; and (4) characteristics of children and families. Over the past two years, we have conducted an inventory of policies and programs and successfully completed data collection in schools across the province. Over the next two years, we will focus on qualitative research, as well as disseminating and contextualizing the results. To inform policy, practice and further academic inquiry, we will share the preliminary research findings in conjunction with two conferences in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The first event will target key Nova Scotia stakeholders, including representatives from our Provincial Government, school boards, district health authorities, schools and communities. The purpose of the first meeting is to focus on knowledge dissemination through key research findings relevant to policy and practice. The second event will include stakeholders representing research, policy or practice outside of Nova Scotia. The purpose of the second meeting will be to contextualize the research findings within the larger body of knowledge on the topic of school-based obesity prevention, thereby focusing on knowledge synthesis. Collectively, the dissemination events will provide an opportunity to disseminate and synthesize the implications of the research with knowledge users in research, policy and practice.