There has been an increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity worldwide and locally, with a quarter of Australian children now considered overweight or obese. This is of concern as obesity in childhood is associated with obesity in adulthood and increased risk of chronic diseases. In response to this, in 2015 the New South Wales (NSW) government released a Premier’s Priority titled “Tackling Childhood Obesity”, which called for all public health services to identify children above a healthy weight and refer them to appropriate services. This priority encompassed public dental services, due to the shared risk factors between childhood obesity and oral health including consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and the opportunities they have to recall and monitor child patients at regular intervals. In light of this, in 2018 the NSW Ministry of Health released guidelines titled ‘Growth Assessment and Dietary Advice in Public Oral Health Services’ for dental staff (DS) such as dental and/or oral health therapists and dental assistants across the state. However, to ensure these guidelines are incorporated into practice, it is anticipated that implementation strategies will be required to support dental practitioners. This study aimed to develop and pilot implementation strategies to facilitate the translation of the ‘Growth Assessment and Dietary Advice in Public Oral Health Services’ guidelines into dental staff’s practice. Specific objectives included: 1. Summarise the existing evidence on the most effective guideline implementation strategies for the dental setting. 2. Codesign implementation strategies with dental staff and parents to facilitate implementation of children’s healthy weight guidelines into the dental setting. 3. Design and psychometrically evaluate an instrument that measures dental staff behavioural intention. 4. Refine and pilot test the implementation strategies using the developed instrument and service data. This project has provided valuable insight into the systematic development of implementation strategies for the dental setting by drawing upon the principles of codesign as well as involving a range of stakeholders. It was clear that dental staff can play a key role in addressing overweight and obesity in childhood, although this can be a challenging role expansion. A systematic approach where dental staff and parents could codesign their own strategies, and in ensuring involvement of other stakeholders in the refinement of these strategies produced strategies that were acceptable, feasible, and sustainable for all involved parties. Initial findings from this project showed promising improvements to behavioural determinants and self-reported behaviours following the introduction of the strategies for one district
