Integrating evaluation and behaviour change expertise in public health: The role of academic partnerships. Fulton, E.,1,2 Pearce, G.,1,3 Brown, K.,1,2 Linnane, J.2 & Tennant, R.3 1 Applied Research Centre in Health and Lifestyle Interventions, Coventry University 2 Public Health, Warwickshire County Council 3 Public Health, Coventry City Council Background • Public health practitioners are increasingly required to identify and employ evidence based public health interventions in their practice. This is further emphasised in the recent updates to NICE guidance on Behaviour Changea. • Including the psychological predictors of behaviour in the design of new interventions, increases the likelihood of changing health-related behaviours and therefore long-term health. The authors1 are research and health psychologists with expertise in conducting systematic research, behaviour change theory and intervention development, working in partnership with two local authority public health departments2,3.
The evidence -based approaches we use:
Table 1: Examples of our work
Identifying existing questionnaires to measure social isolation and loneliness. Development of our own brief questionnaire and toolkit for services in Warwickshire.
Review of the evidence base2
Intervention design and evaluation2
Evaluating a service3
Health Psychology – Understanding how behavioural, social and psychological factors impact on health and illness 1) Theoretical models of behaviour change e.g. Stages of Changeb 2) Frameworks for developing interventions e.g. Behaviour Change Wheelc 3) Taxonomies of intervention components e.g. Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy V1d
Description of example
Skill or support offered
Bidding collaboratively for external funding3
A healthy eating app (Health Heroes) is being developed and piloted with the aim of supporting parents in managing their children’s eating habits in Warwickshire. Focus groups were carried out to examine people’s experiences, and the barriers and facilitators of the NHS health checks in Coventry. Focus on adults with learning disabilities, people with a mental health condition, and BME women. Submission of an EU bid to increase physical activity behaviour to reduce cardiovascular risk. Coventry University was a partner for their behaviour change expertise and digital design. Coventry council provided expertise and access to the local community.
What these partnerships offer public health: The scope of our role and the support we offer includes : • Accessing and condensing evidence in the literature into a manageable form – supporting evidence based commissioning and decision making. • Applying behaviour change theory to the design of public health interventions and campaigns – Establishing the most effective components to include and designing an interventions in order to elicit behaviour change for a given health behaviour. • Designing and evaluating novel interventions – Designing, developing and evaluating new interventions involving stakeholders, experts and end users throughout the process • Evaluating existing services and interventions to measure impact – Systematic research including designing questionnaires, interviews or focus groups; collecting and analysing data. • Promoting public health – For example, publications and presentations to a range of audiences, working together to help to raise the profile and impact of achievements in Public Health.
Recommendations for Public Health • Look at your local University’s research pages or attend their research conferences. Find out what relevant research is taking place. Make contact with local university researchers and consider inviting them to discuss their work at department meetings to encourage collaboration and joint working. • Approach your local university. There are a range of options for partnership working, for example: • Consider joint funding or hosting a PhD student • Commission researchers to do a small piece of work • Offer to collaborate on bids for external funding for research. • The links formed may lead on to other opportunities and open lines of communication with other researchers.
Discussion and Conclusion
• Bidding collaboratively for external funding – Providing expertise in seeking sources of funding for research and evaluation , designing programmes and bid writing. We have additional specialists at the University who support the bidding process.
• Academic partnerships have mutual benefits, for public health in local government, in terms of evidence based decision making and commissioning, and for academics seeking to understand the real world challenges and conduct research with key stakeholder input.
• Linking those with expertise – Making links with University and public health colleagues both locally and nationally. Researchers are often keen to be involved in ‘real world ‘ research.
• Even in the absence of funding, links can be made with Universities to encourage greater collaboration and the development of on-going partnerships.
References: a. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. (2007). Behaviour change: The principles for effective interventions. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE): London, UK. b. Prochaska JO and DiClemente CC ( 1984 ) The Transtheoretical Approach: Towards a Systematic Eclectic Framework . Dow Jones Irwin , Homewood, IL, USA . c. Michie, D., van Stralen, M. M. & West, R. (2011). The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions.Implementation Science 2011, 6:42 d. Michie S, Richardson M, Johnston M, et al. The behaviour change technique taxonomy (v1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: Building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Ann Behav Med. 2013; 46: 81-95.
Contact: Dr Emmie Fulton
Applied Research Centre in Health & Lifestyle Interventions, WF109, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB. Tel + 44 2476 88 71871 Email
[email protected]
