Table 1 Salt swap lithgow intervention components

Administrative mobilization and public advocacy to engage stakeholders

A series of meetings were held with local government (12 meetings), local doctors (7 meetings) and allied health professionals (6 meetings) all ranging in duration from 0.5–1.0 h.

Community mobilization

A series of meetings were held with five of the largest employers in Lithgow (2 meetings), the local business association (1 meeting), business owners (predominately cafe, pub and restaurant owners–20 meetings) and community groups (11 meetings) all ranging in duration from 0.5–2.0 h.

Two specific tools (salt substitute and ‘FoodSwitch’ smartphone application) were used to encourage reduction in salt consumption as well as acting as talking points to engage the community on the topic of the intervention.

Advertising

Local channels of communication including letter box flyers, newspapers, radio and social media were all targeted with information and stories about the program. A series of specific advertising initiatives was scheduled for the period of the intervention during which two letter box drops, seven pieces of print media, one radio interview (replayed), one radio community announcement (replayed) and bi-weekly social media posts were done.

Interpersonal communication

Information booths were established in the two main shopping areas and manned for 80 days for about four hours on each occasion. About 500 individual homes were door-knocked by two team members who each worked on this activity for an average of 25 days. The salt substitute and smartphone application were used as talking points to engage individuals about the importance of reducing salt consumption as well as providing practical ways to achieve a reduction.

Point of service contact using tools to support interactions

The salt substitute was made available for use by consumers free-of-charge at local cafes and restaurants. In addition, government buildings and medical centers held stocks of the salt substitute that consumers could take at no cost. Approximately 8,000 (64 g) packs of salt substitute were provided to the community during the course of the intervention. The smartphone application, ‘FoodSwitch’ that enable consumers to identify lower salt packaged foods was available as a free download.