Rebecca Jones

The development and implementation of healthy public policy has been a central concern of health promotion. The following paper details a study examining local opinion concerning the implementation of national guidelines into local policy regarding banning smoking in enclosed public places following the publication of the UK government's Public Health white paper. The aim of the study was to determine public opinion regarding the acceptability of banning smoking in public areas and the views of major stakeholders in the region. A public opinion survey was conducted with 859 people and semi-structured telephone interviews were held with 32 stakeholders. The study found that there was consistent support, amongst both the general public and the stakeholders, for banning smoking in public places. It also determined that stakeholders found the proposals of the Public Health white paper unclear and therefore difficult to implement. The paper concludes that a variety of support is needed for local policy implementation and makes suggestions for doing so, locating ideas within the literature.

Although there is existing evidence on what works to treat burnout and work-related stress, there is less on what works to prevent it from occurring in the first place. This report provides an overview of literature covering how to prevent burnout and work-related stress in individuals and within organisations.

Community champions (also known as health champions) are community members who volunteer to promote health and wellbeing or improve conditions in their local community. Champions use their social networks and life experience to address barriers to engagement and improve connections between services and disadvantaged communities. Findings from this rapid review show that community champion approaches have high relevance to reducing health inequalities, whether the context is one of an emergency, or of longer term prevention. Community champions can be key connectors in communities but these roles do not operate in isolation and need to be embedded in effective community engagement strategies. As public health interventions, community champion approaches can be applied flexibly dependent on local needs and community assets. This review identifies different models and ways of building champion programmes

Background: Increasing awareness of the complexity of public health problems, including obesity, has led to growing interest in whole systems approaches (WSAs), defined as those that consider the multifactorial drivers of overweight and obesity, involve transformative co-ordinated action across a broad range of disciplines and stakeholders, operate across all levels of governance and throughout the life course. This paper reports a systematic review of WSAs targeting obesity and other complex public health and societal issues, such as healthy lifestyles for prevention of non-communicable disease. Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched from 1995 to 2018. Studies were included if there had been an effort to implement a WSA. Study selection was conducted by one reviewer with a random 20% double checked. Data extraction and validity assessment were undertaken by one reviewer and checked by a second reviewer. Narrative synthesis was undertaken. Results: 65 articles were included; 33 about obesity. Most examined multicomponent community approaches, and there was substantial clinical and methodological heterogeneity. Nevertheless, a range of positive health outcomes were reported, with some evidence of whole systems thinking. Positive effects were seen on health behaviours, body mass index (BMI), parental and community awareness, community capacity building, nutrition and physical activity environments, underage drinking behaviour and health, safety and wellbeing of community members, self-efficacy, smoking and tobacco-related disease outcomes. Features of successful approaches reported in process evaluations included: full engagement of relevant partners and community; time to build relationships, trust and capacity; good governance; embedding within a broader policy context; local evaluation; finance. Conclusions: Systems approaches to tackle obesity can have some benefit, but evidence of how to operationalise a WSA to address public health problems is still in its infancy. Future research should: (a) develop an agreed definition of a WSA in relation to obesity, (b) look across multiple sectors to ensure consistency of language and definition, (c) include detailed descriptions of the approaches, and (d) include process and economic evaluations.