Co-creating obesity prevention policies with youth: Policy ideas generated through the CO-CREATE project

Despite growing recognition of the importance of applying a systems lens to action on obesity, there has only been limited analysis of the extent to which this lens has actually been applied. The CO-CREATE project used a youth-led participatory action research approach to generate policy ideas towards the reduction of adolescent overweight and obesity across Europe. In order to assess the extent to which these youth-generated policy ideas take a systems approach, we analyzed them using the Intervention Level Framework (ILF). The ILF ascribes actions to one of five system levels, from Structural Elements, the least engaged with system change, up to Paradigm, which is the system's deepest held beliefs and thus the most difficult level at which to intervene. Of the 106 policy ideas generated by young people during the CO-CREATE project, 91 (86%) were categorized at the level of Structural Elements. This emphasis on operational rather than systems level responses echoes findings from a previous study on obesity strategies. Analyzing the distribution of systems level responses using the ILF has the potential to support more effective action on obesity by allowing identification of opportunities to strengthen systems level responses overall.publishedVersio

Learning from the CO-CREATE project: A protocol for systems thinking across research (STAR).

The CO-CREATE project aimed to work with young people to create, inform, and disseminate obesity-preventive evidence-based policies using a complex systems perspective. This paper draws lessons from this experience and proposes a protocol for embedding systems thinking within a research project. We first draw on existing systems thinking frameworks to analyze how systems thinking was translated across CO-CREATE, including the flow and relationship between the work packages and in the methods used. We then take the lessons from CO-CREATE and the principles of existing systems thinking frameworks-which focus on various points of intervention planning and delivery but not on research projects as a whole-to formulate a protocol for embedding systems thinking across a research project. Key lessons for future planning and delivery of systems-oriented research projects include incorporating "boundary critique" by capturing key stakeholder (adolescent) values and concerns; working to avoid social exclusion; ensuring methodological pluralism to allow for reflection and responsiveness (with methods ranging from group model building, Photovoice, and small group engagement); getting policy recipients to shape key questions by understanding their views on the critical drivers of obesity early on in the project; and providing opportunity for intraproject reflection along the way

Encouraging greater empowerment for adolescents in consent procedures in social science research and policy projects

The CO-CREATE project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 774210.The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes the importance of allowing children and adolescents to influence decisions that are important to them following their age and maturity. This paper explores the principles, practices, and implications around using parental versus child/adolescent consent when participating in social science research and policy development. Experiences from two studies are presented: The Confronting Obesity: Co-creating policy with youth (CO-CREATE) and the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborative Cross-National study. Although parental consent may be an important gatekeeper for protecting children and adolescents from potentially harmful research participation, it may also be considered an obstacle to the empowerment of children and adolescents in case they want to share their views and experiences directly. This paper argues that evaluation of possible harm should be left to ethics committees and that, if no harm related to the research participation processes is identified and the project has a clear perspective on collaborating with the target group, adolescents from the age of 12 years should be granted the legal capacity to give consent to participate in the research project. Collaboration with adolescents in the development of the research project is encouraged.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Den engasjerte eleven

"Passion for learning has become a key concept in the politics of education. We want to establish schools where students are motivated, enthusiastic and feel a desire to learn. To achieve this on behalf of all students, an emphasis has to be placed on schools where students can experience mastery on the basis of their individual qualifications. Variation in instruction is crucial for students to feel mastery and thus the desire to learn more. A significant springboard for increased desire to learn can be found in enthusiasm. The enthusiastic teacher often receives a good deal of deserved attention. Only when students become enthusiastic about learning can beneficial learning outcomes arise. In The Enthusiastic Student the authors demonstrate how instruction that incorporates wonder, investigation and activation can lead to more enthusiastic students. This anthology includes 12 peer-reviewed chapters written by authors who lecture in a broad range of subjects at Nord University’s Faculty of Education and Arts. The book is in two parts. The first part opens with introductory chapters that explain the concepts of wondering, investigative and activating instruction, and what distinguishes these three approaches from each other. In addition, the basic principles and overall perspective behind the choices of instructional form and the relationship to the student which will influence the learning outcomes in each case, are also explained. This is essential information when it comes to evaluating teaching practices: Why did the plan function well? Why did it not? Part two of the book presents the different wondering, investigative and activating working forms. Some of the methods are presented within the context of one or two subjects; other methods are presented more generally. In these chapters, the reader will find examples that illustrate motivation theory, more insight into the value of interdisciplinary work, and possible effects we can achieve with teaching activity that is not necessarily out after that one right answer. This anthology will be of interest to students and teachers seeking to create more enthusiasm among students in the teaching situation.

The impact of the US constitution on the Norwegian constitution and on emigration to America

The Bicentennial of the Norwegian Constitution in 2014 had special significance for everyone interested in constitutional developments and, in particular, the relationship between the Norwegian and the American Constitutions. These constitutions are the only ones to have survived from the revolutionary period between 1776 and 1814, which is why they have many similarities. However, this has not always been immediately apparent, not even among scholars of constitutional history. My intent here is, firstly, to point out some of these similarities and explain the influence the United States Constitution had on the Norwegian Constitution and, secondly, since there are also differences between the constitutions, I will attempt to discuss whether some of these differences may have had an impact on Norwegian emigration to the United States

Frå fot til feste - norsk valutarett og valutapolitikk 1873-2001

Gullmyntfot vart fastsett som grunnlag for det norske mynt-og valutasystemet i lov om pengevesenet av 4. juni 1873. Kronprinsregentens resolusjon av 29. mars 2001 med heimel i gjeldande lov om Noregs Bank og pengevesenet gav oss eit flytekurssystem med prisstabilitet som nominelt ankerfeste for vår valuta. Dette er valutaregime av ulik type. Rettsleg er ordningane ulike og vegen frå det eine til det andre har gått gjennom mange ulike system, som delvis speglar internasjonale konjunkturar og dominerande økonomiske teoriar, delvis eigne nasjonale oppfatningar og behov. I artikkelen vil eg med rettsleg innfallsvinkel gjennomgå viktige hovudtrekk av norske og internasjonale valutaordingar fra gullmyntfoten fram til dagens ordning. Sjølv om hovudtemaet er dei norske systema, må framstillinga veksle mellom internasjonale og nasjonale system fordi norsk valutapolitikk i heile perioden sjølvsagt har vore meir og mindre prega av internasjonale forhol

Noregs Banks historie i eit langsiktig juridisk perspektiv

I historia til Noregs Bank har organiseringa vore viktig for å oppnå sentrale mål som monetær stabilitet og samstundes iallfall ein viss grad av politisk kontroll. Dette blei søkt nådd ved å la banken frå 1816 vere eit privat aksjeselskap med spesielle styringsordningar. Men stillinga til private aksjeeigarar var verna av grunnlova på ein måte som la skrankar for seinare politiske initiativ. Då staten overtok alle aksjane i 1949, blei det i staden spørsmål om ein særleg grunnlovsregel gav regjeringa krav på å kunne kontrollere og instruere banken. I den seinaste tida står dette opp mot den nyare internasjonale tendensen til at sentralbankar er meir uavhengige