Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 16:11:1055210.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1055210. eCollection 2023.

Participatory evaluation of municipal obesity prevention clubs in Tehran city: Strengths, challenges, and future direction

Sareh Edalati  1 , Nasrin Omidvar  1 , Amirhossein Takian  2   3   4 , Farzaneh Rasam  5 , Delaram Ghodsi  6 , Reza Majdzadeh  7   8   9
Affiliations

Participatory evaluation of municipal obesity prevention clubs in Tehran city: Strengths, challenges, and future direction

Sareh Edalati et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background and aim: Community-based initiatives are important for obesity prevention. This study aimed to evaluate the activities of municipal obesity prevention clubs (OBCs) in Tehran, Iran, using a participatory approach.

Methods: The evaluation team was formed, and the members identified the OBC's strengths, and challenges and provided suggestions for change through a participatory workshop, observation, focus group discussions, reviewing relevant documents (n = 97), and 35 interviews with involved stakeholders. The MAXQDA software was used for data analysis.

Results: An empowerment training program for volunteers was identified as one of the strengths of OBCs. Despite the obesity prevention efforts of OBCs through public exercise sessions, healthy food festivals, and educational sessions, several challenges were identified that hinder participation in OBCs. These challenges included poor marketing strategies, poor training approaches in participatory planning, insufficient motivational support for volunteers, low perceived recognition of volunteers by the community, volunteers' low food and nutrition literacy, poor educational services in the communities, and limited funding for health promotion activities.

Conclusion: Weaknesses in all stages of community participation, including information, consultation, collaboration, and empowerment, in OBCs were detected. Facilitating a more enabling environment for informing and involving citizens, expanding neighborhood social capital, and involving health volunteers, academia, and all potential governmental sectors to collaborate for obesity prevention is recommended.

Keywords: community-based organization (CBO); community-based program; evaluation; obesity; obesity prevention; participatory evaluation; program evaluation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Steps in participatory approach to evaluation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Data collection methods used in evaluation of local obesity-prevention clubs in Tehran city.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The word cloud about participatory evaluation and its characteristics developed through brainstorming by volunteer citizens.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Timeline of activities within local obesity prevention clubs in Tehran city.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Ataey A, Jafarvand E, Adham D, Moradi-Asl E. The relationship between obesity, overweight, and the human development index in World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region Countries. J Prev Med Public Health. (2020) 53:98. 10.3961/jpmph.19.100 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Motlagh ME, Ziaodini H, Qorbani M, Taheri M, Aminaei T, Goodarzi A, et al. . Methodology and early findings of the fifth survey of childhood and adolescence surveillance and prevention of adult noncommunicable disease: the Caspian-V Study. Int J Prev Med. (2017) 8. 10.4103/2008-7802.198915 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Azadnajafabad S, Mohammadi E, Aminorroaya A, Fattahi N, Rezaei S, Haghshenas R, et al. . Non-communicable diseases' risk factors in Iran; a review of the present status and action plans. J Diabetes Metab Disord. (2021) 1–9. 10.1007/s40200-020-00709-8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization . Global Action Plan for the Preven-Tion and Control of Ncds 2013-2020. (2013). Available online at: https://www.who.int/nmh/publications/ncd-action-plan/en/ (accessed February 12, 2020).
    1. Amerzadeh M, Salavati S, Takian A, Namaki S, Asadi-Lari M, Delpisheh A, et al. . Proactive Agenda Setting in Creation and Approval of National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases in Iran: the use of multiple streams model. J Diabetes Metab Disord. (2020) 1–12. 10.1007/s40200-020-00591-4 - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources