An audit of the dissemination strategies and plan included in international food-based dietary guidelines

Abstract

Objective Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) are an important resource to improve population health, however little is known about the types of strategies to disseminate them. This study sought to describe dissemination strategies and content of dissemination plans that were available for FBDGs. Design: A cross-sectional audit of FBDGs with a published English-language version sourced from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization repository. We searched for publicly available dissemination strategies and any corresponding plans available in English language. Two authors extracted data on strategies, which were grouped according to the Model for Dissemination Research Framework (including source, audience, channel, and message). For guidelines with a dissemination plan, we described goals, audience, strategies, and expertise and resources according to the Canadian Institute for Health Research guidance. Setting: FBDGs from 53 countries mostly from high-income (n=28, 52.8%), upper-middle income (n=18, 34%) areas were included. Participants: n/a. Results: The source of guidelines were most frequently health departments (79.2%). The message included quantities and types of foods, and physical activity recommendations, and 88.7% included summarised versions of main messages. The most common channel were infographics and information booklets, and the main end-users were the public. For 12 countries (22.6%), we were able to source an English-language dissemination plan, where none met all recommendations outlined by the CIHR, Conclusions: The public was the most frequently identified end-user and thus most dissemination strategies and plans focused on this group. Few FBDGs had formal dissemination plans and of those, there was limited detailed provided.