About this Toolkit

This toolkit offers a collection of key documents from the FrameWorks Institute's research on how Americans view community health, with an emphasis on food and fitness. This research was conducted nationwide beginning in 2006 and continuing through the end of 2007.

FrameWorks research was designed to study this problem both in California, with funding from The California Endowment, and nationwide, with funding from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Both foundations were beginning to undertake strategic plans that addressed important aspects of community health. The California Endowment had initiated a program area that focused attention on the social and physical environments that shape health behaviors and outcomes. It foresaw a focus for foundation and grantee resources in years to come devoted to identifying, explaining, quantifying and addressing the broader issue of community health and the various factors that would cause it to improve or erode. The Endowment was especially interested in public thinking about prevention. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation was about to launch its Food and Fitness Initiative, designed to address the social and environmental conditions that affect children and families where they live, work and play. Their vision is for vibrant communities in which families and children: eat healthy, locally grown food purchased in their neighborhoods; engage in physical activity and play regularly, and with the confidence they are safe; and live in an environment that supports family and community health.

FrameWorks brought to this investigation the special perspective of Strategic Frame Analysis™, in order to identify: (1) how communications choices can work against public engagement on community health issues, and (2) how the case for improving the food and fitness environment can be reframed to encourage greater public understanding and support. As a result of this research, the FrameWorks Institute also offers a series of communications recommendations for engaging the public and a wide array of exemplary materials that incorporate and model the communications findings. These materials are designed to provide those who communicate about community health, especially with respect to issues of food and fitness, a useful "rough draft" from which they can refine their own specific materials.

Purpose. The goal of this work is to effectively communicate and build support for those policies that advocates and policy experts believe will improve the health of Americans. Changing the public dialogue requires supplanting current messages which, research indicates, are not working as well as they might. This toolkit and accompanying E-Workshop are meant to stimulate creative thinking among the wide array of groups and individuals who wish to improve Americans' health by increasing opportunities for physical fitness, reducing obesity, and encouraging the availability of healthy foods. To that end, this toolkit includes not only the foundational research on public attitudes, the media environment, and successful reframes, but also applications materials that model the translation process necessary to engage the public in solutions.

Perspective. The research and materials included in this toolkit reflect the perspective of Strategic Frame Analysis™, a multi-disciplinary multi-method approach to communications about social issues pioneered by the FrameWorks Institute. Put simply, the way the news is "framed" on many issues sets up habits of thought and expectation that, over time, prove so powerful that they serve to configure new information to conform to these dominant frames. When policy experts, community leaders, service organizations and advocacy groups communicate to their constituencies and potential supporters, they have options to either repeat or break these dominant frames of discourse. Understanding which frames serve to advance which policy options with which groups becomes central to any movement's strategy. The literature of social movements suggests that the prudent choice of frames, and the ability to effectively contest the opposition's frames, lie at the heart of successful policy advocacy. A more extensive description of Strategic Frame Analysis™ is available at www.frameworksinstitute.org.

The FrameWorks Message Memo offers an in-depth overview of the key findings from the research and makes specific recommendations about communications "do's" and "don'ts". If you can only read one document, this is the best combination of research findings and practical applications.

Research. The toolkit includes reports of all FrameWorks research conducted on food and fitness to date. We strongly urge those who would reshape public opinion to read these research reports carefully. Of interest as well is the wide array of additional research conducted by the FrameWorks research team on such related issues as government, health care, race and child development; this work is regularly posted to the FrameWorks website.

Applications. This section includes an overview of the values and simplifying models recommended from the research; a sample speech and letters to the editor which demonstrate the reframes in action; and talking points to help shape the language of press releases, testimony, brochures, mission statements, and other public materials. Of special interest is a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in which typical answers are subjected to framing analysis and better answers suggested, all with reference to the research results. Sidebar notes are provided to explain the strategy used. The toolkit contains many examples of community health policies, but it is expected that users would insert their own policies and initiatives as needed.

Don't stop learning about framing with this toolkit. To keep the learning going, a section on Resources offers more about framing theory and practice.

The FrameWorks team wishes to thank Ali Webb at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Amanda Rounsaville at The California Endowment for their insights and collaboration in the design and interpretation of this body of work.

Rules Governing Use. This Toolkit was developed for individual use and cannot be presented, adapted, reproduced or distributed without the express written permission of the FrameWorks Institute. All images in this presentation are licensed for the purpose of this presentation only and may not be reproduced elsewhere. Standard rules of citation and intellectual property apply to all research findings contained herein; extensive quotation requires written permission from the FrameWorks Institute. Food and Fitness research was supported by The California Endowment and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; the interpretations of research results are solely those of the FrameWorks Institute.