Reflections on a complex intervention targeting healthy eating in young children

Area of Science:

• Public Health Nursing
• Complex Interventions
• Health Behavior Counseling

Background:

• Public health nurses face challenges counseling families on food and nutrition.
• Effective interventions are needed to address these complex issues in child health centers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the experience of conducting a complex public health nursing intervention.
• To provide practical examples and inspire others to undertake similar studies.
• To offer an approach for managing complexity in public health nursing interventions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Medical Research Council framework for complex interventions.
• Intervention focused on food and feeding practices counseling.
• Conducted in Norwegian child health centers between 2015-2018.

Main Results:

• The article shares practical experiences and challenges encountered during the intervention.
• Examples are provided to guide future complex intervention studies.
• An approach to managing complexity in public health nursing counseling is presented.

Conclusions:

• The described approach can help public health nurses navigate complex counseling on food and nutrition.
• Findings have relevance for public health nursing practice internationally.
• The Medical Research Council framework is a useful tool for developing complex interventions.