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. 2013 Apr 16;2013:632540. doi: 10.1155/2013/632540

Table 1.

Barriers and facilitators regarding intersectoral collaboration.

Barriers regarding intersectoral collaboration Reference

Content-related barriers
Lack of awareness of the childhood obesity problem in nonhealth sectors. Aarts et al. [23]
Limited involvement from other sectors in developing cross-sectoral policies. Thow et al. [24]
Lack of political support for creating activity-friendly neighborhoods. Aarts et al. [23]
Neoliberal political climate and individualistic societal climate. Schwartz and Brownell [25]
Ambiguous political climate, governments do not seem eager to implement restrictive or legislative policy measures since this would mean they have to confront powerful lobbies by private companies. Nestle [26]
Peeler et al. [27]
Verduin et al. [28]
Relevance to government's fiscal priorities was important in gaining support for soft drink taxes. Thow et al. [29]
Lack of agenda-setting: lack of relevance and competing priorities. Allender et al. [30]
Promoting healthy eating environments is not considered a greater priority for local government than food safety. Allender et al. [31]
Caraher and Coveney [32]
Other legislated planning guidance may take priority for planning and transport professionals. Bovill [33]
Focusing only on health concerns: not taking into account policy issues of other sectors. Thow et al. [24]
“Wicked” nature of obesity making it very unattractive to invest in its prevention. Head [34]
Complexity of the legislative framework. Allender et al. [35]
Low probability of decreasing the incidence of childhood obesity within the short timeframe that most politicians work in (which is determined by election frequencies). Aarts et al. [23]
Head [34]
Difficulty of developing consensus about ways to tackle the problem due to the lack of hard scientific evidence about effective solutions. Aarts et al. [23]
Head [34]
Nishant et al. [36]
Framing of obesity as an individual health problem. Dorfman and Wallack [37]
Klein and Dietz [38]
Phillips et al. [39]
Merry [40]

Process-related barriers
Local government officials lacking the knowledge and skills to collaborate with actors outside their own department. Steenbakkers et al. [16]
Insufficient resources (time, budget). Steenbakkers et al. [16]
Woulfe et al. [18]
Aarts et al. [23]
Lack of a clear enforcement mechanism. Thow et al. [24]
Perceived or real lack of power to achieve change. Thow et al. [29]
Government priorities change. Nestle [26]
Lack of membership diversity in the collaborative partnerships. Woulfe et al. [18]
Lack of clarity about the notion of intersectoral collaboration. Harting et al. [19]
Top-down bureaucracy and hierarchy, disciplinarity and territoriality, sectoral budgets, and different priorities and procedures in each sector. Bovill [33]
Insufficient organizational structures. Steenbakkers et al. [16]
Woulfe et al. [18]
Alter and Hage [41]
Hunter [42]
Warner and Gould [43]
Poor quality of interpersonal or interorganizational relationships. Woulfe et al. [18]
Isett and Provan [44]
Lack of involvement by managers in collaborative efforts. Steenbakkers et al. [45]
Lack of communication and insufficient joint planning. R. Axelsson and S. B. Axelsson [46]
Lack of common vision and leadership. Woulfe et al. [18]
Hunter [42]

Facilitators regarding intersectoral collaboration

Content-related facilitators
Broad justification for the policy initiative. Thow et al. [24]
Tailoring of information to the political context: information relevant to the government's agenda. Schwartz and Brownell [25]
Bowen and Zwi [47]
Political risk assessment and saleability. Schwartz and Brownell [25]
Selection of policy tools that align with the government priorities (e.g., trade commitments)—ideally tools that are already used by trade policy makers in other contexts—and a broad justification for the policy initiative. Thow et al. [24]

Process-related facilitators
Policy change supported by external funding. Thow et al. [29]
Cost-benefit analysis for any potential regulatory intervention. Thow et al. [29]
Systematic evidence base to provide clear feedback on the size and scope of the obesity epidemic at a local level. Thow et al. [29]
Sensitivity to community and market forces. Thow et al. [29]
Suitable funding allowing local government to play a part in the promotion of healthy food environments. Thow et al. [29]
Changing regulations to allow local government to play a part in the promotion of healthy food environments. Thow et al. [29]
Strategically planning for agenda-setting. Nestle [26]
Development and implementation of intersectoral health-promoting policies by engaging stakeholders in finance at an early stage to identify priorities and synergies. Nestle [26]
Developing cross-sectoral advocacy coalitions. Nestle [26]
Basing proposals on existing legislative mechanisms where possible. Nestle [26]
Active involvement of health policy makers in initiating the policies. Nestle [26]
Advocacy making policy uptake and implementation easier. Thow et al. [24]
Use of existing taxation mechanisms enabling successful policy implementation. Nestle [26]