[Processes of sharing issues among participating groups in the form of a food and nutrition education network: the case of the "S Network"].

Objective: To review processes of sharing issues among participating groups in the form of a food and nutrition education network and elucidate how organizations develop commitment and how individuals change their attitudes.

Methods: (1) Process regarding the form of a food and nutrition education network: After discussions by administrative public health nutritionists at public health centers and meetings with faculty members at J University, we encouraged three groups to participate in a network to share information on food and nutrition issues and gave them opportunities to interact with each other. Group A primarily provided food and nutrition information, group B primarily provided foods, and group C provided both. Specifically, these activities included two open community programs and eight volunteer activities. In the first open community program, they identified capacity to be developed through food and nutrition education and volunteers explored possible cooperation among organizations on the basis of the categorization and classification of issues. To provide feedback on the results, a workshop was held during the second open program. (2) Analysis of the process: We documented organizations involved in the form of a food and nutrition education network from 2003 through 2006, the processes and details of their activities, and activities and remarks by participants. These documents were classified by issue, broken down into categories, and listed chronologically with titles for characteristic entries, thereby reviewing the processes. On the basis of these results, we asked participants who were involved in the entire process of the construction of the food and nutrition education network to review their own activities, and we then investigated the changes in their attitudes.

Results: (1) A total of 63 persons in 34 organizations participated in open community programs. Local food issues included changing dietary behaviors along with diversification of lifestyle; problems with cooking, eating, and continuation of tradition because of the lack of nutritional knowledge and experience; and the uncontrolled flood of information. Participating organizations were found to engage in different activities to address nutritional issues. In addition, insufficient or low efficiency activities were identified, indicating the need for cooperation. (2) Issue-sharing processes consisted of the following three steps: identification of local nutritional issues, characterization of group activities to address food and nutritional problems, and exploration of possible cooperation among groups. Analysis of attitudes of three persons participating in the entire process of network construction revealed their interest in other organization activities and sympathy with other organizations.

Discussion: Factors for promotion of sharing issue include (1) our support to allow them to share food and nutrition issues in the early stages and thereafter, and (2) repeated deliberations within open community programs involving information and feedback from prior identification and analysis of problems, as well as selection of activities.