Evaluation of the Dissemination of the South African 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Birth to 5 Years

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-03, Vol.18 (6), p.3071
• Main Authors: Draper, Catherine E, Silubonde, Takana M, Mukoma, Gudani, van Sluijs, Esther M F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptability; Birth; Blacks; Caregivers; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Early childhood education; Education; Feasibility; Female; Focus Groups; Guidelines; Health promotion; Humans; Low income groups; Movement; Parturition; Pregnancy; Song; South Africa; Stakeholders; User groups; Workshops
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18063071

South Africa (SA) launched their 24-h movement guidelines for birth to five years in December 2018. The guideline dissemination plan adopted a "train-the-trainer" strategy through dissemination workshops with community-based organisations (CBOs) working in early childhood development. The aim of this paper is to: (1) document this dissemination process; and (2) report on the feasibility of implementing the dissemination workshops, the acceptability of the workshops (and guidelines) for different end-user groups, and the extent to which CBO representatives disseminated the guidelines to end-users. Fifteen workshops were held in seven of SA's nine provinces with a total of 323 attendees. Quantitative and qualitative findings ( = 281) indicate that these workshops were feasible for community-based dissemination of the guidelines and that this method of dissemination was acceptable to CBOs and end-users. Findings from follow-up focus groups (6 groups, = 28 participants) indicate that the guidelines were shared with end-users of CBOs who participated in the focus groups. An additional musical storytelling resource, the "Woza, Mntwana" song, was well-received by participants; sharing via WhatsApp was believed to be the most effective way to disseminate this song. These findings confirm the feasibility and acceptability of culturally appropriate and context-specific community-based dissemination of behavioural guidelines in low-income settings.