Evaluation of a Dutch public-private partnership to promote healthier diet

PURPOSE: Public-private partnerships may help to promote healthy diets. We assessed customers' exposure to and the acceptability of a Dutch public-private healthy diet campaign in butcher's shops and investigated the effects on the purchase of lean meat and the use of liquid cooking margarine and potential behavioral determinants. METHODS: The pretest-posttest control group design included 486 customers (242 experimental and 244 control) of butcher shops representing 64% of the original sample. Campaign exposure, acceptability, and behavioral effects were measured by a questionnaire. RESULTS: Seventy-one percent of the customers noticed the campaign. Scores on the acceptability were positive to very positive. Regression analysis revealed that customers in the experimental condition evaluated the campaign better (B = .415; p < .05) and felt more encouraged to buy lean meat (B = .252; p < .05) than customers in the control condition. No effects on behavior were found. DISCUSSION: Study design limitations included possible campaign exposure of control group participants. The study shows the feasibility and acceptability of a joint health-promoting activity through a public-private partnership, but there were no effects on behavior. AD - Department of Health Education and Promotion, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. [email protected] FAU - van Assema, Patricia AU - van Assema P FAU - Steenbakkers, Mieke AU - Steenbakkers M FAU - Stapel, Hanna AU - Stapel H FAU - van Keulen, Hilde AU - van Keulen H FAU - Ronda, Gaby AU - Ronda G FAU - Brug, Johannes AU - Brug J LA - eng PT - Journal Article PL - United States TA - Am J Health Promot JT - American journal of health promotion : AJHP. JID - 8701680 SB - T