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Research conducted within the University of East London's Institute of Health and Human Development (IHHD) is reshaping the development, commissioning, delivery and evaluation of interventions to address the wider determinants of health and health-inequalities, and has had impacts on public policy, service design and, ultimately, public health and wellbeing. Grounded in close relationships with policy-makers and end users, UEL's primary research into community development and co-production has informed the design of health improvement interventions, delivered through the cross-institutional, community-based Well London project. Research findings have driven Big Lottery funding priorities, contributed to parliamentary debates on health, informed NICE and Local Government guidance, shaped Marmot Review Team and NESTA policy, and led health authorities to commission new services and adopt new approaches to service delivery.
We improve Public Health and facilitate personal growth through promoting active lifestyles. We have provided an evidence-base of effective intervention approaches across settings, in `hard-to-engage' populations and through distinctive planning and delivery approaches. Our support for practitioners and commissioners has developed (i) ways to show the effectiveness of interventions to increase activity and (ii) programmes that achieve wider developmental aims. These effects are achieved by deploying innovative, often bespoke, realistic impact measures that improve programme effectiveness in locations, venues and groups where other groups do not go.
It is widely acknowledged that increasing physical activity (PA) levels within `hard-to-reach' groups is challenging. Researchers in the School have addressed these challenges resulting in impacts in two recognized `hard-to-reach' groups: ethnic minority communities and patients who are at risk of disease onset and/or are suffering from diminished quality of life/disability due to chronic disease. In the former, our research has demonstrated how to make PA accessible and appropriate; in the latter, in addition, we have increased physical activity levels. In both examples, our research has changed professional training and/or standards.
High global and national prevalence levels of child obesity and physical inactivity carry a substantially increased health risk. Exposure to this risk is exacerbated in north-west England where health inequalities are large. Consequently, the prevention of physical inactivity and associated conditions such as obesity are vital at the local level. This case study summarises the impact of research within the Research Institute for Sports and Exercise Sciences (RISES) that has focused on children's physical activity and health promotion in educational settings in the North West of England. This research has been utilised by the Local Authorities that have partnered with RISES to develop and deliver; health and physical activity monitoring (SportsLinx); evidenced-based programmes of physical activity for schoolchildren (school-based interventions); and educational practice development (teacher training) that have demonstrably enhanced children's physical activity and health.
Physical inactivity is strongly related to coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers. Research at the University of Cambridge has focused on the development and validation of methods for assessing physical activity in population studies and on the application of these methods to quantify the type and dose of physical activity that is important for different health outcomes. This research has contributed to development of public health guidelines. Research into the determinants of activity levels in different population groups and the evaluation of interventions aimed at individuals and the wider population has contributed to NICE guidance on different forms of interventions to increase physical activity.
Housing and regeneration programmes both in the UK and internationally have struggled to have lasting impacts upon the places where they are enacted. The University of Glasgow's research and learning programme, GoWell, has worked across a wide range of policy sectors together to improve the circumstances of deprived communities. Specifically, GoWell has: supported the framing of strategy and policy objectives around social regeneration and health outcomes; assisted the definition and understanding of policy problems, such as around the link between `overprovision' of alcohol outlets and local crime rates; proposed the design of new policy instruments such as the Scottish Neighbourhood Quality Standard; and contributed to the monitoring and evaluation of policy implementation by showing how health and wellbeing indicators could be used to measure responsiveness to residential change.
The impact of the research described, lies in its ability to identify the prevalence and clustering of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours in young adults, and describe the characteristics of the differing lifestyles. Unhealthy behaviours are primary causes of premature morbidity and mortality. Inactivity, smoking, alcohol use and poor diet are the four major behavioural contributors to chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The findings have been used to highlight the powerful influence of these behaviours on health, and also to highlight the particular impact on health created by these behaviours interacting together. These timely findings will aid health professionals to develop appropriate health prevention programmes targeting young adults.
Research conducted at the University of Bath has influenced policy and practice regarding the promotion of physical activity and wellbeing in youth. Canadian and UK governments have revised their physical activity guidelines and recommendations for children and adolescents based on research co-produced by staff from Bath. In Canada, these revised physical activity guidelines have been used by the not-for-profit organisation ParticipACTION as the basis for multi-million dollar multimedia advertising campaign which generated more than 100 million earned media impressions. These revised guidelines are also being used in the measurement and monitoring of national trends in physical activity in large national surveys in Canada. In the UK, revised physical activity guidelines have been directly distributed to key stakeholders and more broadly disseminated to the public via NHS Choices and national charities (e.g., British Heart Foundation). Our research contributed to the Be-the-Best-You-Can-Be London 2012 initiative that is now embedded within the National Curriculum and has already been delivered to over 115,000 pupils across the UK in the first two years of the programme alone. The International Olympic Committee used our research on physical activity requirements in youth when addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations to inform a resolution on the global prevention of non-communicable diseases.
Since the Bradford Riots in 2001, research at Bradford has helped to defuse underlying tensions between deprived, multiethnic communities and between them and the local state thus strengthening community resilience in the city. Building on global research, particularly in Latin America, we have introduced participatory and peace-building methodologies into the locality, but with implications beyond it. The Programme for a Peaceful City enhances our impact through academic-practitioner reflection spaces. Our research with rather than on communities fosters their voice in policy, contributing to a non-confrontational response to the EDL in 2010, 2012 and 2013 and bringing community activists from Bradford's diverse communities together to co-create the ESRC-funded Community University (Comm-Uni-ty) in May 2013.
This case study summarises impact consequent to empirical research related to the concept of "Sporting Playgrounds" from the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences (RISES). The "Sporting Playgrounds" project addressed the global problem of falling levels of childhood physical activity through the introduction and assessment of innovative markings and physical structures to the school playground. Research outcomes have changed National and International school playground planning and design as well as altering educational policy. Associated health economics analysis has demonstrated the cost effectiveness of these interventions. The project has also developed novel approaches to the overall practice of assessing children's physical activity levels which have informed continuing efforts to monitor and improve children's physical activity within educational settings.