Co-creating public health measures with adolescents in municipalities: municipal actors’ views on inhibitors and promoters for adolescent involvement

Aim: To explore what municipal actors consider as inhibiting and promoting adolescents’ involvement in public health measures in municipalities. Methods: A qualitative study with individual and group interviews was conducted among 15 municipal actors who were central in involving adolescents from five Norwegian municipalities participating in the National Programme for Public Health Work in Municipalities (2017–2027). In addition, participatory observation of project activities was done in two municipalities. A data-driven thematic analysis was applied to analyse data. Results: In the analysis, we developed four themes, including both inhibitors and promoters for adolescent involvement: (a) Timeframe challenges in adolescent involvement; (b) Lack of necessary knowledge and awareness among adolescents; (c) Limited competencies and resources in the project groups; and (d) Facilitators’ attitudes on and perceptions of adolescent involvement. Conclusions: This study reports factors that are important to consider when facilitating involvement processes with young people. Findings suggest that further work should be done to ensure involvement of adolescents in public health measures in municipalities, and actors involving adolescents must be provided with competence and resources to ensure such participation.publishedVersio