Background:

Eating behaviors are complex and have particular significance for military personnel who require sound nutrition to support health and physical fitness for job performance. Policies and guidelines for the provision of nutritionally appropriate food/drink on base and in the field do exist; however, many military personnel have poor dietary habits, and these habits are evident early in their career. Social marketing could assist in changing unhealthy eating behaviors of personnel through implementation of feasible interventions co-created with stakeholders that are valued by Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel.

Focus of the article:

The article reports the first phase of a systemic co-inquiry into unhealthy eating behaviors of military personnel. This study aimed to gain an initial framing of the problem situation and thus hypothesize a “system of interest” in which to conduct future work.

Research questions

• What components (e.g., ideas, objects, attributes, activities) are perceived to be relevant for eating behaviors in military personnel?

• Do interrelationships and interconnections among components suggest how unhealthy eating behaviors may emerge?

• Are there places that suggest viable leverage points as opportunities for changing unhealthy eating behaviors through delivery of offerings that ADF personnel value?

Program Design/Approach:

This study was part of a systemic inquiry approach.

Methods:

Data for the study included document analysis and 14 semi-structured depth interviews with ADF stakeholders. Data were thematically analyzed to construct a system of interest in which to explore how eating behaviors emerge among personnel and ADF-controlled leverage points that can be used to increase healthy eating for ADF personnel through social marketing intervention.

Results:

The data analysis identified alternative systems of interest in which to explore how eating behaviors emerge among personnel. Demand and supply side leverage points were identified. On the supply side, the encouragement of patronage through menu innovation, investment in facilities, cooking skills training, and auditing provision were opportunities for social marketing intervention. On the demand side, education and training coupled with communications that challenge cultural and regulatory norms and link to military values were areas that programs seeking to increase healthy eating in ADF personnel could focus on.

Importance to the Social Marketing Field:

As an approach for addressing “wicked” problems, the application of systems thinking in social marketing has privileged an ontological concept of system as a metaphor for reality. This approach assists in expanding the focus of change beyond the individual to include factors in social, economic, and policy environments. By using systems thinking as an epistemological device, this article offers an approach that may be applied to overcome practical and philosophical limitations in the application of systems thinking.

Recommendations for Research or Practice:

Research on alternative methods for applying systems thinking is recommended to strengthen the potential of system approaches in the field of social marketing.

Limitations:

This study is part of a broader program, and its findings on the problem of unhealthy eating behaviors in ADF are preliminary. Limitations specific to the study include the possibility of “reductionism” in stakeholder identification and self-selection bias in participation.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚军事人员的饮食行为：为社会营销干预建立利益体系

背景：

饮食行为很复杂，对需要良好营养以​​支持健康和身体健康以完成工作的军事人员特别重要。确实存在在实地和实地提供营养适当的食品/饮料的政策和准则；但是，许多军事人员的饮食习惯较差，这些习惯在其职业生涯的早期就很明显。社会营销可以通过实施与利益相关者共同创建的可行干预措施来帮助改变人员的不健康饮食行为，这些措施受到澳大利亚国防军人员的重视。

文章重点：

这篇文章报告了对军事人员不健康饮食行为进行系统性共同调查的第一阶段。这项研究旨在初步了解问题的情况，从而假设了一个“感兴趣的系统”，可以在该系统中开展未来的工作。

研究问题

• 哪些要素（例如，思想，对象，属性，活动）被认为与军事人员的进食行为有关？

• 组件之间的相互关系和相互联系是否暗示着不健康的饮食行为可能如何出现？

• 是否有地方提出可行的杠杆作用点，作为通过提供ADF人员重视的产品来改变不健康饮食行为的机会？

程序设计/方法：

这项研究是系统性探究方法的一部分。

方法：

该研究的数据包括文件分析以及对ADF利益相关者的14次半结构化深度访谈。对数据进行了专题分析，构建了一个感兴趣的系统，该系统探讨了人员之间的进食行为以及ADF控制的杠杆点如何出现，这些点可用于通过社会营销干预为ADF人员增加健康饮食。

结果：

数据分析确定了感兴趣的替代系统，以探讨人员中饮食行为的出现方式。确定了需求和供应方的杠杆点。在供应方面，通过菜单创新，设施投资，烹饪技能培训和审核提供来鼓励顾客，是进行社会营销干预的机会。在需求方面，旨在提高ADF人员健康饮食计划的重点是教育和培训，以及挑战文化和法规规范并与军事价值观联系的沟通。

对社会营销领域的重要性：

作为解决“邪恶”问题的一种方法，系统思维在社会营销中的应用优先考虑了系统本体论概念，即系统隐喻现实。这种方法有助于将改变的重点扩展到个人之外，以包括社会，经济和政策环境中的因素。通过将系统思维用作认识论的手段，本文提供了一种可用于克服系统思维应用中的实践和哲学局限性的方法。

研究或实践建议：

建议研究应用系统思维的替代方法，以增强系统方法在社会营销领域的潜力。

局限性：

这项研究是更广泛计划的一部分，它对ADF中不健康饮食行为问题的发现是初步的。该研究特有的局限性包括在利益相关者识别中可能存在“简化主义”，以及参与中的自我选择偏见。