An interview study about a weight management group
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Qualitative study to investigate the acceptability and impact of a novel weight management intervention
IRAS ID
142948
Contact name
Katharine Rimes
Contact email
Research summary
Changes for Health is a weight management intervention based on best practice, as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) clinical Guidance on the management of adult obesity. This guidance specifies the need for multicomponent behavioural interventions that aim to increase physical activity and encourage healthy eating.
Within these guidelines, Changes for Health contains certain novel aspects that would particularly benefit from a more in depth qualitative investigation to ascertain how effective participants found them. These include: increasing understanding of the physiological and evolutionary causes of weight gain, with the aim of increasing personal acceptance of why weight loss is so challenging, a focus on negotiating how to live in an obesogenic environment and managing environmental, cultural and social barriers to a healthy lifestyle.
These novel components are not typical of traditional lifestyle interventions for the management of overweight and obesity and therefore little is known about how helpful or acceptable they are to individuals taking part in group weight management interventions. This study aims to explore the subjective views and experiences of patients who have completed the Changes for Health intervention using qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews. It is hoped that the results of this study will be used to inform future development of similar behavioural interventions for weight management.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0410
Date of REC Opinion
1 Apr 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion