The SIG aims to build a multidisciplinary community of ISBNPA members interested in Implementation Science related to nutrition, promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour.
In the last few decades, governmental and other funding agencies have prioritized the development, piloting and evaluation of evidence-based public health programs, including those focussed on healthy nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Despite evidence for the positive impact of such programs, and the increasing recognition of the importance of robust process evaluations within trials, there is less evidence for program effectiveness at scale and little evidence about successful scale-ups and sustained implementation.
There appears to be a gap between the development of efficacious interventions and their wide scale uptake and sustainability in practice. With the public health impact of these programs dependant on implementation on wider scale, it is timely to develop multi-disciplinary, international and collaborative forum for researchers, which combines the expertise of relevant behavioural, physical activity, nutrition, policy and sociological disciplines. Implementation science in the field of physical activity, nutrition and sedentary behaviours is relatively new and set to grow as the need to understand how implementation, scalability and sustainability can be promoted and evaluated.
Goals
The SIG aims to build a multidisciplinary community of ISBNPA members interested in Implementation Science related to nutrition, promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour.
This SIG will:
- provide a platform to discuss, disseminate evidence and promote networking and collaboration on issues related to implementation and translation research;
- support efforts which aim to assist translation of research into practice and policy by moving from research ideas, through feasibility/piloting and randomised controlled trials to widespread real world implementation and translation trials;
- support efforts which aim to assist more standardized implementation evaluation and how to measure degree of implementation and sustainability;
- offer professional support through exchanging information about relevant conferences, seminars and workshops.
The SIG will communicate with members via email, through the ISBNPA newsletters, social media and also via a face-to-face meeting at the ISBNPA Annual Scientific Meeting. Documentation will be exchanged through a Dropbox communications folder (key references, funding calls, members interested in collaborations).
SIG Team
Dr Taren Swindle (SIG Chair)
Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Implementation and scalability research interest
Taren is interested in increasing adoption of evidence-based practices and interventions in community settings. She currently has funded projects to develop and test implementation strategies for nutrition promotion in Head Start, deimplementation of detrimental feeding practices in childcare, translation of clinical exercise protocols for expecting women to the community, and designing a physical activity intervention for children born to mothers of excess weight. Across projects, she has an interest in studying fidelity/adaptation and sustainability.
Contact: [email protected]; @taren_swindle
Dr. Nicole Nathan (SIG Co-chair)
Health Promotion Research Practioner, Hunter New England Population Health; Lecturer at the University of Newcastle, Australia
Implementation and scalability research interest
For more than 15 years, Nicole has led the implementation and evaluation of Australia’s largest population-wide child obesity prevention services and research trials in community settings, primarily within schools, where she has developed and managed an integrated model of research and practice, to improve the delivery and impact of obesity prevention services at scale.
Contact: [email protected]
Dr Femke van Nassau (SIG Founder and Past-Chair)
Researcher, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health research institute at the Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, The Netherlands.
Implementation and scalability research interest
Femke’s expertise includes implementation research, process evaluation, determinants of implementation, fidelity vs. adaptations, measurement of sedentary and physical activity behaviour, and intervention development Femke is currently involved in several lifestyle promotion projects in different settings (schools, workplace, football clubs, community, and clinical setting) most of stem with a strong implementation focus.
Contact: [email protected]; @femkevnvn
Dr Patti-Jean Naylor (SIG Officer)
Professor in the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education, University of Victoria, Canada.
Implementation and scalability research interest
PJ’s work has focused on evaluating implementation of interventions in the ‘real world’ both before and after scale-up. Most notable is that PJ worked alongside Drs. Heather McKay and Louise Masse to study implementation after the scale-up of Action Schools! BC – a comprehensive school health based multi-component intervention to enhance physical activity and healthy eating in elementary schools. PJ has also been involved in the scale-up of healthy eating interventions in municipal recreation facilities across Canada and in the scale-up of interventions for early year’s settings.
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Josephine Chau (SIG Officer)
Implementation and scalability research interest
Josephine’s research focuses on implementation of evidence-based interventions in adults and workplace settings. This has involved designing and evaluating ‘move more, sit less’ initiatives, and investigating the social and environmental factors (people, places, and policies) that affect workers’ moving and sitting, as well as their mental wellbeing and productivity.
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Thomas Skovgaard (SIG Officer)
Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark; Director, Research and Innovation Centre for Human Movement and Learning
Implementation and scalability research interest
• Program evaluation and policy research in relation to health enhancing physical activity
• Physical activity and well-being among children and youth
• Knowledge translation and research utilization
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Elaine Murtagh (SIG Officer)
Senior Lecturer, Athena SWAN Project Director at Mary Immaculate College | University of Limerick
Implementation and scalability research interest
Elaine’s work focusses on developing and evaluating programmes to increase physical activity in children and adults. She has a particular interest in addressing physical inactivity in adolescent girls and using family-based intervention approaches. Elaine is interested in the full cycle of intervention development, from formative research to feasibility testing, to evaluation and implementation/dissemination.
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Luke Wolfenden (SIG Officer)
Associate Professor, The University of Newcastle
Implementation and scalability research interest
Luke works across multiple settings to encourage these lifestyle changes, enlisting the commitment of sporting clubs, childcare centres, schools, hospital services and outpatient clinics to implement chronic disease and injury prevention initiatives. His work aims to translate research into practice through engagement processes with policy makers and practitioners.
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Lisa Moran (SIG Officer)
Associate Professor, Monash University
Implementation and scalability research interest
Lisa’s is a research dietitian and research interests include the assessment and management of obesity-related health for women. Her work includes translation of evidence-based guidelines for women’s health into clinical and community models of care.
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Erin Hennessy (SIG Officer)
Implementation and scalability research interest
Erin is interested in implementation of community-based behavior change interventions. She has led the implementation and dissemination of several health promotion programs.
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Jannah Jones (SIG Officer)
Conjoint Lecturer, The University of Newcastle
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Rachel Sutherland (SIG Officer)
Research Fellow, The University of Newcastle
Contact: [email protected]
Matthew ‘Tepi’ McLaughlin (SIG Student Officer)
PhD Student at the University of Newcastle
Implementation and scalability research interest
His PhD is embedded in a health service delivery organisation, Hunter New England Population Health. His project is a scaled-up school based physical activity program in secondary schools. His avid interest is in getting people moving more.
Contact: @HEalthTepi (Twitter); [email protected]
Mary Kennedy (SIG Student Officer)
PhD Student at Edith Cowan University
Implementation and scalability research interest
Mary is pursuing a PhD in Exercise Oncology. Her PhD project focuses on the evaluation, design, and implementation of exercise into standard care for people with cancer.
