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Priority setting for school nutrition research: developing a collaborative research agenda

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Abstract

Priority setting in health research can assist stakeholders to identify research and policies that have the greatest potential for benefits to public health. Priority setting has been utilized by researchers to identify barriers, facilitators, and recommendations for future public health research. This commentary describes how a priority-setting approach was used as part of a workshop activity on the school nutrition environment in Ontario, Canada, to facilitate brainstorming, sorting, and rating of concepts related to the school nutrition environment. This work demonstrates an interesting and concrete case of priority setting, of interest for various planning activities (both programming and research), particularly those around school-based healthy eating programs or a related research agenda.

Résumé

L’établissement de priorités de recherche en santé peut aider les acteurs à déterminer la recherche et les politiques les plus susceptibles de présenter des avantages pour la santé publique. Les chercheurs utilisent l’établissement des priorités pour repérer les éléments favorables et défavorables et pour formuler des recommandations de recherche en santé publique à mener à l’avenir. Nous décrivons ici l’utilisation d’une démarche d’établissement des priorités lors d’un atelier sur la nutrition en milieu scolaire tenu en Ontario (Canada) dans le cadre d’une activité ayant consisté à animer une séance de remue-méninges et à trier et évaluer des concepts liés à la nutrition en milieu scolaire. Cela représente un cas concret d’établissement des priorités qui pourrait être intéressant pour diverses activités de planification (de programmes ou d’études de recherche), surtout celles qui s’articulent autour de programmes d’alimentation saine en milieu scolaire ou de priorités de recherche connexes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all of the participants in the workshop for their valuable insights into this important topic. This paper would not have been possible without you. This project was entitled, “Developing a research agenda for school nutrition policies in Ontario: a planning meeting including key stakeholders from across Canada”.

Funding

We received financial support from a CIHR Planning and Dissemination Grant (No. 51771).

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Correspondence to Michelle M. Vine.

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Based on the report:

Vine, M.M., Leatherdale, S.T., Hanning, R., Skinner, K., Elliott, S.J., Basset-Gunter, R.L., Laxer, R.E., Brown, K., Butler, A., Godin, K.M., Valaitis, R., Patte, K.A. (September 2018). Developing a research agenda for school nutrition policy in Ontario: A planning meeting including key stakeholders from across Canada: A workshop report from November 2 and 3, 2017. Waterloo, ON: University of Waterloo.

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Vine, M.M., Leatherdale, S.T. & Laxer, R.E. Priority setting for school nutrition research: developing a collaborative research agenda. Can J Public Health 111, 1020–1023 (2020). https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-020-00331-4

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