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Let them eat (birthday) cake: reframing healthy eating in healthcare organizations.

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Title: Let them eat (birthday) cake: reframing healthy eating in healthcare organizations.
Authors: Kennedy, Laura J.1 (AUTHOR) Laura.kennedy@dal.ca, Kirk, Sara F. L.2 (AUTHOR), Sim, Meaghan3 (AUTHOR), Parsons Leigh, Jeanna1 (AUTHOR), Wong, Helen1 (AUTHOR), Mah, Catherine L.1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Global Health Promotion. Dec2025, Vol. 32 Issue 4, p15-24. 10p.
Subject Terms: *Health promotion, *Food habits, Dietetics, Organizational change, Food service management, Medical personnel, Nutrition
Abstract: Healthy eating is influenced by a myriad factors ranging from individual to societal. Healthcare organizations have recently adopted healthy eating policies to improve food environments; however, how such policies shape practice is still unknown. This qualitative study explores perspectives on continuous quality improvement (CQI) among healthcare staff and managers working in hospital foodservices post-implementation of a healthy eating policy aimed at improving food environments. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 foodservices staff at Nova Scotia Health. Participants varied in role (administrative, point-of-sale) and location (rural/urban). We analyzed findings using directed content analysis. Participants' approach to quality revealed a range of definitions of healthy eating, from health promotion efforts directed towards individual behavior change management to a broader emphasis on supportive food environments. This research also highlighted the complexity of the healthcare food environment in which health promotion was being implemented, a 'setting' as per the 'settings approach' to health promotion, but also revealing a 'setting within a setting': food environments within healthcare environments. These nested environments are alternatively more business or healthcare service-centric, within the larger healthcare environment. Healthcare practitioners' views on effective implementation of the policy also spanned many scales of healthy eating, informed by concepts within their core healthcare practice (dietetics: nutrients), the organization (historical nutrition contexts) and broader food culture (food trends and choice). This study has demonstrated that CQI for a healthier food environment within healthcare needs a broader focus to advance benchmarks for health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:Healthy eating is influenced by a myriad factors ranging from individual to societal. Healthcare organizations have recently adopted healthy eating policies to improve food environments; however, how such policies shape practice is still unknown. This qualitative study explores perspectives on continuous quality improvement (CQI) among healthcare staff and managers working in hospital foodservices post-implementation of a healthy eating policy aimed at improving food environments. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 foodservices staff at Nova Scotia Health. Participants varied in role (administrative, point-of-sale) and location (rural/urban). We analyzed findings using directed content analysis. Participants' approach to quality revealed a range of definitions of healthy eating, from health promotion efforts directed towards individual behavior change management to a broader emphasis on supportive food environments. This research also highlighted the complexity of the healthcare food environment in which health promotion was being implemented, a 'setting' as per the 'settings approach' to health promotion, but also revealing a 'setting within a setting': food environments within healthcare environments. These nested environments are alternatively more business or healthcare service-centric, within the larger healthcare environment. Healthcare practitioners' views on effective implementation of the policy also spanned many scales of healthy eating, informed by concepts within their core healthcare practice (dietetics: nutrients), the organization (historical nutrition contexts) and broader food culture (food trends and choice). This study has demonstrated that CQI for a healthier food environment within healthcare needs a broader focus to advance benchmarks for health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:17579759
DOI:10.1177/17579759251318731