CRE EPOCH-Translate investigators presented at the 2023 Australia and New Zealand Obesity Society Annual Meeting on 18-20 October in Adelaide.  The following presents summaries of their presentations and links to more detailed abstracts.

Resources used and trusted regarding child health information by culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia: an online cross-sectional survey, PhD Candidate Danielle Jawad
This study compared child health information seeking behaviour among parents with children under two from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds and non-CALD parents. Parents from CALD backgrounds reported higher trust in information from social media, and more frequently accessing information from general search engines, compared to Australian born parents.  Read more.

Barriers and enablers to accessing child health resources and services: Finding from qualitative interviews with Arabic and Mongolian immigrant mothers in Australia, PhD Candidate Danielle Jawad
Interview data showed immigrant parents relied on digital platforms and Google to access child health information but with some differences in information seeking behaviour.  There are opportunities to develop and improve access to culturally appropriate child health support services and resources. Read more. 

Integrating an evidence based obesity prevention program into practice: Evaluation of INFANT practitioner training, A/Prof Rachel Laws
 INFANT is a program to support parents with healthy eating and active play from birth, currently being scaled up across Victoria with 6-8 hours online facilitator training.  Evaluation of the facilitator training using pre and post surveys showed that 12 months following training, practitioners had more confidence to discuss obesity prevention messages with parents.  Read more.

Equitable solutions for achieving healthy weight in childhood: Experiences from Australia and New Zealand

• Overweight and obesity among Australian children from priority populations and association with quality of life. – Prof Alison Hayes, Stream 2 lead
• Effectiveness and co-benefits of a telephone-based intervention in reducing obesity risk of children aged 2-4 years and tailoring the intervention for priority populations: The Healthy Beginnings Program – Dr Sarah Taki, Stream 3.
• A multidisciplinary community-based healthy lifestyle program for children and young people in Taranaki, Aotearoa New Zealand.– Yvonne Anderson
• Consumer and Community Engagement in research: pitfalls, opportunities, lessons learned and strategies for genuine partnership– Kenneth Taiapa
• Drawing on Aboriginal wisdom and cultural practices to inform program development.– Tania Harris

Developing obesity-prevention policy or community-based programs: the science and art of public health, Prof Rebecca Golley
Public health responses to the global obesity epidemic are relatively new. The first WHO report on preventing and managing obesity was published in 1998. In the 25 years since, both the science and art of public health have used a range of data sources to understand the complexity of obesity, built the evidence base of effective prevention approaches and developed effective approaches for delivery at scale. In this presentation, Prof Golley discussed the role of a wide range of information sources, including basic science, trials and systems thinking to shaping the public health policy and program landscape. Read more.