2008/720 Community Intervention to Increase Seafood Consumption

By Alexandra McManus

To date there has been no concerted effort – either by industry or health authorities – to encourage regular seafood consumption or to better educate the community on its scientifically proven health benefits. Getting people to eat more seafood is a simple, effective, low-cost way of helping to reduce pressure on a health system under strain from an ageing population and the increasing incidence of lifestyle-related diseases (such as diabetes and heart disease). It also has the potential to impact upon short and long-term health, both in the general population and in those with specific health conditions.

Therefore, the objectives of this project were:

1. To conduct a systematic review and gap analysis to inform the development of industry guidelines around health messages and seafood, and to identify research gaps and priorities in seafood health benefits research.
2. To develop, implement and evaluate a series of targeted seafood health benefits communication resources for educational institutions, health professionals and their clients, seafood consumers and members of the seafood industry.
3. To develop and evaluate a seafood health benefits skills set for incorporation into relevant vocational training packages administered through TAFE institutions.
4. To trial and evaluate the seafood health benefits communication resources developed in a single community to determine whether seafood consumption in that community is significantly altered through access to the developed resources.

The project followed a participatory action research model with each stage of the research informing the previous stages, thus ensuring the outcomes were relevant to the end users.