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Research carried out at Cardiff University refined an addiction counselling method, motivational interviewing, co-founded previously by Rollnick, to improve the consultation for changing health behaviour (e.g. diet, exercise, smoking and drinking). Their published findings and resulting method are now used in health care worldwide, with good evidence for effectiveness. The impact of this work has been described as `immeasurable' and is reflected in industry guidelines and policy documents, and diverse clinical efforts that include the treatment of children with HIV-AIDS in Africa.
Professionals in the third sector have changed the key messages of their campaigns as a result of research from Cardiff University. In this research it was shown that people were more likely to be eco-friendly when campaigns appealed to their concern for the welfare of others, rather than financial savings. The findings have stimulated ongoing debate among eco-campaigners and a wider range of professionals in the third sector, government, the national press and online publications. Leading international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Oxfam have formed the Common Cause initiative to improve their communication practices and this has led to changes in campaigning strategy.
Reducing youth anti-social behaviour and raising young people's educational aspirations are international priorities. Research carried out by the University of Greenwich has provided the basis for policy development on participation in higher education and has informed policy makers' views about, and practitioners' work on, anti-social behaviour in schools in the UK and more widely. The impact through partnerships with a local authority and a charity are also described, involving use of an assessment toolkit called the Emotion, Behaviour, Aspiration Toolkit (eBAT) to address factors that limit the aspirations and social mobility of young people. The work is located in the university's Research Centre for Children Schools and Families, which has become a centre for research on anti-social behaviour:
http://www2.gre.ac.uk/about/schools/health/research/healthsocial/ccsf.
Loughborough University research into Problem Structuring Methodologies has resulted in PEArL, a device for framing the manner in which change occurs in organisations. The application of PEArL has changed organisational practice and policy in a variety of environments — including manufacturing, community and scientific settings — with far-reaching and long-lasting consequences. It has been used by the British Association for Chemical Specialities to achieve improved biocidal labelling; in homeless shelters to enhance outcomes for residents in adopting more stable lifestyles; and by Jaguar Land Rover to improve governance and achieve better oversight for senior management across product creation pipelines.
The further development of the UK Physical Activity guidelines in 2010 highlighted the need to consider the emerging research in the area of sedentary behaviour. Prof S. Biddle at Loughborough University, based upon his and the Unit's leading research in this area, was invited to Chair a working group to review and make recommendations regarding the incorporation of guidance on sedentary behaviour into these new national policies. This group, drawing on the original work of Biddle and co-workers, set out clear recommendations for the incorporation of sedentary behaviour into the UK national Physical Activity Guidelines through the `Sedentary Behaviour and Obesity: Review of the Current Scientific Evidence' report (2010).
Physical Activity guidelines in the UK had never included recommendations for sedentary behaviour, until the publication of `Start Active, Stay Active' (2011), as a direct result of the Unit's research.