Development of a health promotion action with mothers aiming to support a healthy start in life for children using Participatory Action Research

ABSTRACT

Health inequalities arise already during the first thousand days of a child’s life. Participatory action research (PAR) is a promising approach, addressing adverse contexts that impact health inequalities. This article describes the experience of mothers involved in a PAR process to develop a health promotion action that supports both children’s and mothers’ health. It also describes the experiences of mothers who attended the developed action and trainers who facilitated it. The PAR process resulted in the development of a sustained action called Mama’s World Exercise Club aimed at promoting the health of mothers and their children. Results showed that the PAR process empowered the mothers and gave them a sense of pride at playing a useful role in their community. The developed action was highly valued by other mothers in the neighbourhood and widely implemented. These positive results can be ascribed to the strong collaboration between the researchers and the mothers, and the willingness of local stakeholders to support the action. Future studies should investigate if the results of this study sustain over a longer period of time and improve health outcomes of children and mothers in the long run.

KEYWORDS:

• co-creation
• participatory action research
• empowerment
• first thousand days
• health inequalities
• health promotion action

Acknowledgments

The results of this project represent a collaborative interpretation of the collective wisdom of the mothers from the action group, and would not have been possible without their support and participation. We would therefore like to thank each and every mother who generously shared her time, experience and effort for the purposes of this project. In particular, we wish to thank one of the mothers, Tuba Arslan, for her invaluable feedback and input during the analyses, and for acting as one of the readers of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

GB and FB conceptualised and designed the project. JCS and SCD helped supervise the project. GB and FB coordinated and performed the data collection. GB wrote the manuscript. SCD and JCS interpreted the data and provided critical input and feedback on the manuscript. All of the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Medical Ethical Committee of Amsterdam UMC (VUmc location) in 2018 (2018.229). Reference number: IRB00002991. Written informed consent for participating in the study was obtained from all participants involved in the interviews and the action-group sessions.

Availability of data and materials

The qualitative datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available, as the data contains information that could compromise research participant privacy/consent. However, the data are available from the principal researcher G. Bektas ([email protected]) on reasonable request, and subject to approval by the research committee of Amsterdam UMC (VUmc location).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Fred Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Gülcan Bektas

Gülcan Bektas is a PhD candidate in the Youth & Lifestyle section of the Department of Health Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science. Her educational background is in health sciences and her research areas include early childhood, lifestyle, health promotion, participatory health research, healthcare services and parental education.

Femke Boelsma

Femke Boelsma is a junior researcher in the Youth & Lifestyle section of the Department of Health Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science. Her educational background is in cultural and social anthropology and her research areas include participatory action research, health promotion, early childhood and healthcare services.

Jacob C. Seidell

Jacob C. Seidell is a professor in the Youth & Lifestyle section of the Department of Health Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science. His educational background is in nutrition and public health, and he holds a PhD in human nutrition. He is head of the section Youth & Lifestyle and co-director of Sarphati Amsterdam, an organisation in which multidisciplinary teams work on prevention and care solutions for the young people of Amsterdam.

S. Coosje Dijkstra

S. Coosje Dijkstra is an assistant professor in the Youth & Lifestyle section of the Department of Health Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science and at the Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute. She brings her background as a nutritionist and epidemiologist to bear in a wide range of research projects aimed at reducing socioeconomic inequalities in dietary intake, dietary behaviour and the food environment of childhood and adolescence.