Developing a shared understanding of the commercial determinants of health, between residents of Sheffield, researchers, and Sheffield City Council
Research Team: Zoe Clarke, Abi Stevely, Elizabeth McGill, Lauren Carters-White, Kate Fryer, Jude Beng, Susan Hird, Amanda Pickard
Who's involved: University of Sheffield, LSHTM, University of Stirling, Sheffield City Council
January 2023 – September 2025
The problem
A wide range of human and environmental factors affect our health, these are known as ‘determinants’ of health. ‘Commercial’ determinants of health are private sector undertakings that influence people’s health personally or secondarily, and that can have positive or negative effects. Examples include the marketing of unhealthy food and drink such as ultra-processed foods, alcohol and fizzy drinks or company choices in the price setting of products. The commercial determinants of health impact everyone, yet some people are particularly at risk.
Unhealthy and harmful products make pre-existing economic, social, ethnic, and racial inequities worse. The commercial determinants of health affect risk factors such as smoking, air pollution, alcohol use, obesity, and physical inactivity. They can also affect health outcomes such as chronic diseases, infectious diseases, and mental health issues.
Aim of the research
Sheffield City Council’s Public Health and Integrated Commissioning Directorate are developing local plans to mitigate health harms from unhealthy products industries (such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling, ultra-processed foods, and fossil fuels). It is important to understand residents’ views in this process, including the perceived local impacts of the practices of unhealthy product industries.
The aim of this project is to work with Sheffield residents to find and agree on a ‘common language’ in which these health issues, practices, and their impacts can be discussed. This will help inform Sheffield City Council’s policy and communication strategy and support effective communication with residents, particularly around policy decisions that are made because of the plans.
Design and methods
This project will encompass four stages – development, data collection, analysis, and dissemination. Deliberative methods will be used, with diverse groups of residents learning about the commercial determinants of health, before discussing their opinions, and finding agreement together around language to describe the commercial determinants of health.
Public involvement and engagement
The content for the groups will be developed in collaboration with the Deep End Research Alliance (DERA) public involvement and engagement group, and discussions in the deliberative group sessions will be recorded and transcribed for analysis.
Sharing what we find
We will hold two additional sessions with DERA to co-design outputs, feedback our findings, and conduct evaluation of our PI&E. Outputs will include two short, graphic designed documents summarising the research findings for different audiences, as well as a short video.
