System Action Learning: Reorientating Practice for System Change in Preventive Health

It is now widely accepted that many of the problems we face in public health are complex, from chronic disease to COVID-19. To grapple with such complexity, researchers have turned to both complexity science and systems thinking to better understand the problems and their context. Less work, however, has focused on the nature of complex solutions, or intervention design, when tackling complex problems. This paper explores the nature of system intervention design through case illustrations of system action learning from a large systems level chronic disease prevention study in Australia. The research team worked with community partners in the design and implementation of a process of system action learning designed to reflect on existing initiatives and to reorient practice towards responses informed by system level insights and action. We were able to observe and document changes in the mental models and actions of practitioners and in doing so shine a light on what may be possible once we turn our attention to the nature and practice of system interventions.