Project SoL—A community-based, multi-component health promotion intervention to improve eating habits and physical activity among Danish families with young children. Part 1: Intervention development and implementation

Project SoL was implemented over a period of four years from 2012–2015 with the aim to promote healthy eating and physical activity among families with children aged 3–8 years, living in selected communities in two Danish municipalities. This was done by applying the supersetting approach to implement complex multi-component interventions in a participatory, coordinated, and integrated manner in childcare centres, schools, and supermarkets in three local communities, as well as in local media during a 19-month period in the Regional Municipality of Bornholm, which served as the intervention site. The matching municipality of Odsherred served as a control site based on its similarity to Bornholm regarding several socio-demographic and health indicators. The present paper describes the design of Project SoL as well as the processes of developing and implementing its complex interventions. Moreover, the theoretical and conceptual framework of the project is described together with its organisational structure, concrete activities, and sustainability measures. The paper discusses some of the key lessons learned related to participatory development and the implementation of a multi-component intervention. The paper concludes that coordinated and integrated health promotion activities that are implemented together with multiple stakeholders and across multiple settings in the local community are much more powerful than individual activities carried out in single settings. The supersetting approach was a useful conceptual framework for developing and implementing a complex multi-component health promotion intervention and for fostering ownership and sustainability of the intervention in the local community. The research and evaluation approach of the project is described in a separate paper (Part 2).