Reaching Priority Populations When Scaling Up: A Qualitative Study of Practitioners' Experiences of Implementing Early Childhood Health Interventions in Victoria, Australia.
Implementing evidence‐based health promotion programmes at scale is important for achieving population‐level health outcomes. However, achieving equitable reach can be challenging. An evidence‐based early‐life nutrition and movement intervention (INFANT) is currently being implemented at scale in Au...
| Publicado en: | Maternal & Child Nutrition Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 1 - 12 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Oct2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=188158399&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 188158399 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 17408695 0LU jtl: Maternal & Child Nutrition issn: 17408695 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Oct2025 vid: 21 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 188158399 185249409 188158399 188158399 10.1111/mcn.70046 188158399 ppf: 1 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Reaching Priority Populations When Scaling Up: A Qualitative Study of Practitioners' Experiences of Implementing Early Childhood Health Interventions in Victoria, Australia. aug: au: Marshall, Sarah Love, Penelope Kuswara, Konsita Lee, Karen Downes, Hannah Laws, Rachel affil: Prevention Research Collaboration, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney New South Wales,, Australia sug: subj: Implementation Science Health Promotion Methods Preventive Health Care Early Childhood Intervention Victoria Attitude of Health Personnel Population Health Human Qualitative Studies Semi-Structured Interview Purposive Sample Thematic Analysis Universal Health Care Snowball Sample Work Experiences Funding Source Victoria Descriptive Statistics Data Analysis Software ab: Implementing evidence‐based health promotion programmes at scale is important for achieving population‐level health outcomes. However, achieving equitable reach can be challenging. An evidence‐based early‐life nutrition and movement intervention (INFANT) is currently being implemented at scale in Australia. This study explored practitioners' perceptions about reaching priority population groups through INFANT or similar universal preventive health programmes and services implemented at scale. Fifteen semi‐structured online interviews were conducted with purposively selected experienced practitioners. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Two main themes were developed, representing the complexities of reaching priority population groups through universal health programmes and services in early childhood. Theme 1: "We're not hitting the mark"—Underlying issues influence universal healthcare access, highlighted (a) the perception that parents felt out of place through a sense of not belonging or being unfamiliar with universal services and (b) that practical constraints and pressing priorities impacted access. Theme 2: "There are no easy answers"—Varied approaches can enhance engagement, but the path is not straightforward, encompassed (a) the importance of trust and familiarity with providers, (b) the suitability of programmes and services for target communities, and (c) factors such as practitioner uncertainty regarding approaches that could address the needs of families from priority populations and resourcing that can limit targeted efforts. Our findings highlight the complexities of achieving equitable reach during scale‐up and the varied decision‐making and resourcing for addressing inequity in a local context. While our findings identify local‐level strategies to address equitable reach during scale‐up, we emphasise that striving to achieve health equity should be embedded and prioritised in scale‐up efforts. Summary: Implementing evidence‐based health promotion programmes at scale is important for population‐level health outcomes, but achieving equitable reach can be challenging.Our findings reveal a mismatch between universally offered maternal and child health programmes and services and the needs of families from priority populations.Practitioners raised some local‐level strategies to engage families from priority populations, though uncertainties exist regarding the best approaches to plan and implement targeted approaches under local resourcing constraints.Health equity considerations should be embedded, appropriately resourced, and prioritised in the practice and research of implementing and scaling up preventive health programmes/services. Co‐design with diverse end‐users is essential to achieving this. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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