The purpose of this study is to inform promising strategies that can curb SSB and excess fruit juice consumption and potentially provide safe, palatable potable drinking water as an alternative by building capacity in systems thinking among diverse stakeholders that serve families with infants and toddlers in Puerto Rico. The study will employ Group Model Building (GMB) – a participatory, iterative process within community-based system dynamics that enables the co-creation of qualitative causal maps (i.e., causal loop diagrams-CLD) among diverse stakeholders and decision-
makers representing multiple sectors in Puerto Rico. The CLD facilitates visualization of factors in a system and elicit community members’ insights and recommendations to promote systems change.
Start Date: October 2022
Organization: George Washington University
Project Lead: Uriyoan Colon-Ramos, ScD, MPA
Focus Areas: Beverages, Early Childhood, Healthy Communities
Resource Type: Commissioned Research Project Summary
Keywords: Community setting, Sugar-sweetened beverages
Age Group: Pregnant women, infants and toddlers (ages 0 to 2)
State: Puerto Rico
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