JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Public health programs and policies can positively influence food environments. In 2016, a voluntary National Healthy Food and Drink Policy was released in New Zealand to improve the healthiness of food and drinks for staff and visitors to hospitals. However, no resources were developed to support policy implementation.

Objective:

This study aimed to design, develop, and test a new web-based tool to support food providers implementing the National Healthy Food and Drink Policy in New Zealand.

Methods:

The Double Diamond model (a structured framework consisting of a four-phased design process) was used to design and develop a web-based tool. Findings from our previous research: (i) systematic review of barriers and facilitators to workplace healthy food policy implementation, (ii) scoping review of current tools and resources available in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, and (iii) interviews with food providers and public health nutrition professionals and (iv) food and drink availability audit results in New Zealand hospitals, were used in the ‘Discover’ (understanding of current gaps) and ‘Define’ (prioritizing functions and features) phases. Subsequent phases focused on generating ideas, creating prototypes, and testing a new web-based tool using Figma, a prototyping tool. During the ‘Develop’ phase, project stakeholders (public health nutrition professionals) provided feedback on the basic content outline of the initial low-fidelity prototype. In the final ‘Deliver’ phase, a high-fidelity prototype resembling the appearance and functionality of the final tool was tested with end-users (public health nutrition professionals). Interactive interviews were used to test the tool, and user suggestions were incorporated to improve the tool.

Results:

A new digital tool, Healthy Kai (Food) Checker, a searchable database of packaged food and drink products that classifies items according to the Policy’s nutritional criteria, was identified as a key tool to support National Healthy Food and Drink Policy implementation. Essential functions included basic and advanced searches for products, sorting list options, ability to compile a list of selected products, and a means to report products missing from the database. Feedback from stakeholders on the prototype identified visual and usability components to enhance the tool further.

Conclusions:

Comprehensive research informed the development of a new digital tool to support implementation of the National Healthy Food and Drink Policy, and testing with end-users identified features that would further enhance the acceptability and usability of the tool. Incorporation of more functions and extending the database to include products classified according to the healthy school lunches program policy in the same database would increase the tool’s utility.