Table 4 The checklist of good practice characteristics for healthy diet and physical activity interventions and policies

Main intervention/policy characteristics

1a

Target audience well defined

2a

Target group needs identified

3a

Family involvement*

4b

Target behavior well defined and adjusted to target population

5c

Multidimensionality of the approach (individual, social, environmental)

6c

Physical environment accounted for

7d

Theory applied in the development of the intervention/policy

8e

Individual contacts and their intensity specified

9e

Duration (number of sessions, their length, and frequency)

10e

Forms of delivery

11e

Number of components (distinguishable elements/strategies used to prompt healthy diet/physical activity)

12e

The use of any theory-based behavior change techniques

13e

Clarity achieved

14e

Tailoring content and materials

15e

Manuals/exact protocols exist

16e

The use of specific behavior change techniques: self-monitoring and self-management

17f

Practitioners well defined

18f

Setting characteristics well defined

Monitoring and evaluation

19 g

Costs in relation to obtained general health benefits

20 g

Costs related to behavior change

21 g

Total financial costs of the interventions/policy

22 h

Outcomes measured with valid, reliable, and sensitive tools

23 h

Effects specified as clinically significant

24 h

Effects on public health-relevant secondary outcomes

25 h

Negative consequences (or risks) evaluated

26 h

Measured outcomes include physiological risk factor indices

27i

Efficiency established and reported

28i

Sustainable effects

29i

Effect sizes

30j

Reach

31j

Inclusiveness: health, age, and gender context

32j

Cultural competence and social inclusion of the intervention/policy

33 k

Generalizability of effects evaluated

34 k

Participation rates reported

35 l

Active components identified

36 l

Ongoing monitoring and measurement of delivery; monitoring of materials

Implementation

37 m

Completion and attrition rates across stages

38 m

Resources/strategies for staff helping them to invite and follow participants up

39 m

Strategies promoting long-term participation (maintenance) included

40n

Staff training in implementation and facilitation of inter-sectorial collaboration

41o

Resources for implementation specified

42o

Implementation integrated into existing programs

43o

Ongoing support from stakeholders secured

44p

Adoption by target staff, settings, or institutions

45p

Feasible/acceptable for providers, stakeholders, and participants

46q

Maintenance (the policy/intervention is maintained over time with institutional support)

47q

Mutability (the intervention/policy is in the realm of community/target group)

48r

Partnership between agencies/organizations to facilitate adoption/implementation

49r

Identification of those responsible for implementation; training and feedback for implementers

50s

Implementation consistency and adaptations made during delivery assessed

51 t

Adherence to protocol/protocol fidelity monitored**

32u

Transferability

53u

Contexts of transfer and transfer boundaries