Towards healthy food retail: An assessment of public health nutrition workforce capacity to work with stores.

OBJECTIVE: This article aims to investigate the capacity of nutrition professionals to engage in food retail practice change to improve population diet. METHODS: Convergent mixed method design was used that includes pre-interview surveys, in-depth interviews, and retrospective mapping of service provision. The study was conducted in organisations that provide a nutrition professional service to food retail stores in remote Australia. The study participants include 11 nutrition professionals and eight organisation representatives, including managers, organisation directors and policy officers. Systems-mapping and thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews were conducted using a capacity development framework. Descriptive analysis was applied to pre-interview survey and mapping data. RESULTS: A gap between the aspirational work and current capacity of nutrition professionals to engage effectively with stores was identified. Engagement with stores to improve population health was valued by organisations. Dominance of the medical health model limited organisation strategic support for store work and created barriers. Key barriers included the limited access to training, decision-support tools, information, financial resources and organisational structures that directed store work. CONCLUSIONS: Provision of adequate store-specific training, resources and organisational support may empower the nutrition professional workforce to be powerful leaders in co-design for healthy food retail. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: Building capacity for this critical workforce to engage in food retail practice change must consider the influence of the broader health system and employer organisations and need for access to evidence-based decision-support tools.

Food security in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in remote Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of print news media and press releases.

OBJECTIVE: This article aims to examine the framing of the issue of food security in very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in print media and press releases during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. METHODS: Newspaper articles were identified following a systematic search of the Factiva database, and press releases were identified from manual search of key stakeholder websites from January to June 2020 and analysed using a combined adapted framework of the Bacchi's What's the Problem Represented to be? Framework and the Narrative Policy Framework. RESULTS: A food delivery "problem" dominated representations in press releases, and food supply at store level had prominence in print media. Both presented the cause of food insecurity as a singular, identifiable point in time, framed the issue as one of helplessness and lack of control, and proposed policy action. CONCLUSIONS: The issue of food security was represented in the media as a simple issue requiring an immediate fix, as opposed to a complex issue requiring a systems-level and sustained policy response. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: This study will help to guide future media dialogue to impact on both immediate and longer-term solutions to food insecurity in very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia.