Abstract for: The rhythm of community engagement in public health: an example applying community based system dynamics to obesity prevention

Community engagement is widely recognised as important in public health, including in obesity prevention. System dynamics, including community-based system dynamics is increasingly being used as an engagement method. However, there is a need to understand how to conceptualise and measure community engagement in public health in ways that recognise it complexity. This study is embedded in an ongoing CBSD process in Victoria, Australia where capacity building in system dynamics modelling has developed over time. This increased capacity has created the opportunity to build a simulation model based on qualitative interviews with practitioners doing CBSD for obesity prevention to generate insights about both CBSD and community engagement in obesity prevention more generally. Seventeen interviews with a diverse range of practitioners across contexts in Victoria were analysed to create a reference mode, qualitative CLD, and simulation model reflecting hoped and feared patterns of community engagement. The modelling process emphasised the importance of framing long term community engagement as an oscillating process, and demonstrated endogenous dynamics that can interrupt this rhythm. The resulting model in this process formalises qualitative pieces in public health about community engagement, offering opportunities to plan for, measure, and evaluate community engagement in prevention initiatives. It is also a case study of a long-term CBSD process, offering insights into how CBSD may work in practice. Future research will conduct global sensitivity analysis and consider expansion of model boundary to promote ongoing learning about community engagement. For editing and refinement of language only