Supermarkets and grocery stores are the source of most of the food we eat in modern society. Thus, supermarkets and grocery stores have a high impact on our health. Collaboration with food retailers is therefore important to promote healthier food habits in the population. Few studies have evaluated the implementation of health promotion initiatives in supermarkets. Moreover, there is a lack of knowledge of the potentials and pitfalls with partnerships between public health advocates and commercial collaborators.
Purpose
As part of the study “Healthier Choices in Supermarkets” this PhD-project will investigate how health promoting initiatives in supermarkets, aimed at customers, can be developed and implemented. The project has three specific objectives:
- Which initiatives can be developed and implemented in a supermarket based on the partnership between researcher from NIPH, Center of Intervention Research, and employees in the NGO the Danish Cancer Society as well as the food retail group Salling Group?
- How well is the implementation of the initiatives and what promotes and hinder the implementation?
- Which factors influence the food purchasing behaviour of especially families with young children and how can these be addressed in future studies?
Method
The project takes an ethnographic approach and uses primarily participant observations (in stores and at partner-meetings), interviews (with stakeholders, employees at the supermarket, and customers), as well as document analysis (e.g., homepages, internal reports, and social medias) and to a lesser extent sales data from the supermarket.
Period of project
July 2021 - June 2024
Collaborations and funding provider
The study behind the project is conducted in a collaboration with the Danish retail group Salling Group and The Danish Cancer Society, Department of Prevention & Information.