Published on 2 Nov 2025

Consumer Research to Inform Healthy Eating, Active Living Programs in schools

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Allen + Clarke conducted consumer research for the NSW Ministry of Health and Department of Education to inform their Healthy Eating and Active Living (HEAL) school programs. Our work explored how families, carers and young people from different backgrounds understand child health and the roles schools and communities play in supporting it. Through consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and culturally and linguistically diverse groups, we gathered insights that directly shaped recommendations for existing programs and helped design a new secondary school initiative.

Key Takeaways:

  • Our engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and culturally and linguistically diverse groups ensured recommendations reflected each communities' needs.

  • The research explored different perspectives on child health, examining how schools, families and community organisations can work together.

  • Findings informed improvements to the Live Life Well @ School program and guided the development of a new secondary school initiative.
Our research showed how cultural backgrounds influence health concepts, family practices and expectations of school programs. We identified opportunities for schools to build stronger connections with families and communities, creating better support systems for child health.

The Challenge

The NSW Ministry of Health and Department of Education asked Allen + Clarke to research how families and young people think about healthy eating and active living. This research would help them improve existing school programs and design new ones that work for diverse communities across NSW. 

Before starting our research, we obtained ethics approval from the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council. This ensured our approach respected cultural protocols and protected participants throughout the research process. 

We needed to understand how different communities think about child health and who should be responsible for supporting it; schools, families, and community organisations. This meant engaging with key populations, including those whose voices aren't always heard when developing health programs.

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Our Approach

Our approach combined thorough research methods with culturally sensitive engagement:

  • Inclusive consultation - we established meaningful conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, respecting cultural protocols and ensuring their perspectives shaped our research.

  • Diverse family engagement - we connected with families from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds, creating safe spaces for them to share their views on child health. 

  • Youth-focused methods - we used age-appropriate techniques to understand how young people themselves think about health, physical activity and nutrition at school. 

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Rich insights into different communities views

This approach gave us rich insights into how different communities view healthy child development and the roles schools, families and community organisations should play. By listening to diverse voices, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and culturally diverse communities, we uncovered perspectives that might otherwise have been missed. 

By basing program development on community perspectives, the enhanced HEAL programs better reflect the needs of students, families and communities across NSW. This approach recognises that effective health promotion requires programs that respect cultural diversity, engage families meaningfully, and respond to what young people actually need and want. 

The findings directly informed program improvements and new developments:

  • Primary school program enhancement - we used the insights to improve the Live Life Well @ School program, making it more culturally relevant and better at engaging families. 

  • Secondary school program development - our research formed the foundation for designing a new HEAL program for secondary schools that meets the needs of teenagers from diverse backgrounds. 

  • Implementation guidance - we developed practical guidelines to help schools adapt HEAL initiatives to their specific community contexts while maintaining program integrity. 

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