Balancing Fidelity and Adaptation: Action-Oriented Research Towards Implementing a Nutrition Education Program Among...

Area of Science:

• Health Promotion
• Educational Research
• Nutrition Education

Background:

• School-based health promotion programs necessitate strong contextual fit for successful implementation.
• The "Krachtvoer" (Power Food) nutrition education program was examined to understand contextual fit dynamics.
• Teachers' ability to balance implementation fidelity with adaptation was a key focus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To strengthen the "Krachtvoer" (Power Food) nutrition program through contextual adaptation.
• To gain generalizable insights into achieving contextual fit in health promotion initiatives.
• To analyze the impact of program, context, and their interactions on implementation.

Main Methods:

• Action-oriented research was employed, utilizing continuous micro-process cycles of implementation, measurement, evaluation, and adaptation.
• Pilot implementation involved 25 teachers across 32 classes (635 students).
• Data collection included observations and interviews focusing on program aspects, school context, and program-context interactions.

Main Results:

• Even minor program-context mismatches significantly impacted the implementation process.
• Contextual differences, including teacher/student technological savviness, teacher adaptive management skills, and student maturity/attention spans, were identified.
• These variations occurred both within and between schools.

Conclusions:

• Action-oriented research with micro-process cycles is effective for strengthening health promotion programs.
• Continuous, co-creating efforts among stakeholders are vital for program sustainability and contextual fit.
• Further research is recommended on building implementer capacity for balancing fidelity and adaptation.