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Toolkit

Framing Food and Fitness as a Public Issue

Welcome to Framing Food and Fitness as a Public Issue—a framing toolkit of research and applications exploring how Americans think about nutrition and physical activity, the community environments that affect health behavior, and the policies that have an impact.

Introduction

Welcome to Framing Food and Fitness as a Public Issue—a framing toolkit of research and applications exploring how Americans think about nutrition and physical activity, the community environments that affect health behavior, and the policies that have an impact. This toolkit was developed by the FrameWorks Institute for the California Endowment and for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Food and Fitness Initiative. Standard rules governing citation and intellectual property usage apply.

Framing Community Health as if Food and Fitness Mattered

This message memo synthesizes our research and recommends strategies to communicate more effectively about community health issues, such as food and fitness.

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Applications

Talking Points TK Icon
Toolkit File

Talking Points

A reminder of the key elements of the community health frame for use in preparation for media interviews, editorial board visits, or other public communications.

 Question Mark TK Icon
Toolkit File

FAQs

Common questions about nutrition and physical activity, with examples of effective and less-effective responses to each question.

 Document TK Icon
Toolkit File

Sample Editorial

An example of how to apply the framing strategies on community health to the format of a guest editorial in a newspaper.

 Letter TK Icon
Toolkit File

Sample Letter to the Editor (Community Health)

A template for applying framing strategies to a Letter to the Editor format.

 Elevator Pitch TK Icon
Toolkit File

Sample Speech (Community Health)

An example of how to apply the framing strategies in the format of a public address.

Key Framing Guides

Magnifying Glass TK Icon
Toolkit File

What’s in the swamp of Community Health?

A graphic representation of the swamp of dominant patterns of thinking about community health. This can serve as a reminder of the themes in public thinking that your communications should avoid.

 YSTT TK Icon
Toolkit File

You Say…They Think

An analysis of a series of frame clashes, or what happens when you say one thing about health, but the public thinks another.

 Framing Guide TK Icon
Toolkit File

Basic Message Template

The outline of a new frame for communicating about community health. The talking points, FAQs, and Sample Op-Ed in this toolkit show a variety of ways to apply this basic template.

 Value Reframe Card TK Icon
Toolkit File

Using the Values, Domains, and Models Memory Aid

An overview of the most effective frame elements and how to use them in combination.

Research

Report

Framing Healthy Communities: Strategic Communications and the Social Determinants of Health

Details the results of experiments conducted as part of a larger study of health communications research funded by The California Endowment and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.  This study aims to...
Report

Discussing Public Environments in the Community: A Focus Group Report about Nutrition and Physical Activity

This report recounts findings from focus groups conducted for the FrameWorks Institute as part of a multi-method investigation into how Americans think about community and societal determinants of...
Report

Calories Not Communities: A Media Content Analysis of Food and Fitness News

A media content analysis to identify the common frames used in the news to communicate issues related to food and physical activity.
Report

Fostering a Systematic View of Food and Fitness through Metaphor

What metaphors help people see food and fitness as systemic issues, not just lifestyle choices? This study weighs the effects of different comparisons - and finds that some offer more food for...
Report

Implications of the Consumer Frame for Food and Fitness Cognitive Analysis of Media Depictions

How do advertising and news media affect our thinking about food and fitness? This content analysis identifies common tropes - and the way they influence public thinking about public policy.
Report

Fitness as a Personal Ideal: Findings from Cognitive Elicitations in Colorado and Chicago

A report on additional cognitive interviews conducted in Colorado and Chicago to further test and refine our understanding of the way thinking about food and fitness defaults to individual lifestyle.
Report

Civic Wellbeing: An Analysis of Qualitative Research Among California Residents

A report of focus groups conducted to better understand the interplay between this dominant frame and the policies advocates seek to promote, and to probe the ability of such values frames as...
Report

Health Individualism: Findings from Cognitive Elicitations among Californians

A report on cognitive interviews conducted in four California communities to determine the mental models people use to reason about community health. This research funded by The California...
Issues
Health
Countries
United States
Partners
The California Endowment W.K. Kellogg Foundation