A Systems Perspective on the Drivers of Adoption of the Norwegian School Fruit Scheme

Abstract

Successful adoption of evidence-based primary prevention interventions by schools is important for public health but relies on multiple factors. Using a systems perspective enables the identification of the interconnectivity and feedback loops among these factors, which can facilitate or hinder adoption. This study aimed to conceptualize a system structure showing how adoption factors are interrelated, and which feedback loops influence schools’ decisions to adopt interventions, using the parent-paid Norwegian school fruit scheme (the parent-paid scheme) as a case. We interviewed principals and personnel (n = 7) from schools that adopted, de-adopted, or never adopted the parent-paid scheme. These interviews were analyzed using qualitative system dynamics modeling. The analysis resulted in a causal loop diagram representing a system structure driving schools’ adoption decisions. The preliminary results were validated during a workshop with new participants who hold decision-making roles in schools (n = 5). Due to previous experiences with a free scheme, some schools perceived the parent-paid scheme’s relative advantages as low, which, in synergy with schools’ preference to offer it for free to pupils, resulted in the parent-paid scheme never being adopted. Nevertheless, there were schools that adopted the parent-paid scheme, driven by feedback loops like perceived need and relative advantages. These feedback loops, however, weakened over time as de-adoption resulted from a lack of demand from parents and pupils. Taking a systems perspective offered a temporal view of adoption processes, revealing how past decisions, like de-adopting a free scheme, influence future decisions. It highlighted how reinforcing feedback loops, like perceived need, set schools on adoption paths. Finally, it identified gaps in information flow, including those necessary for adaptation, as potential missing feedback loops to continuous adoption. As such, the schools’ decision to adopt the parent-paid scheme is a dynamic process with systemic characteristics that should be considered when developing strategies to ensure adoption.