Pioneering LifeGuide research findings published in The Lancet
Early research findings from the LifeGuide programme of research, led by Professor Lucy Yardley, Head of the Centre for Applications of Health Psychology at Southampton, have recently been published in The Lancet.
LifeGuide is a set of software tools that allow researchers to flexibly create and modify programmes of personalised online support for managing and preventing illness. It means that individuals can access 24-hour online advice and support for a range of health interventions.
Created through an interdisciplinary consortium of UK universities, medical practitioners, social scientists and computer scientists, LifeGuide was used in a study that halved the number of unnecessary antibiotics being prescribed by GPs in Europe. Prof Yardley said ‘The LifeGuide software allowed us to work closely with GPs in six different countries to create websites ready for trialling in less than a year. It is really encouraging that the first LifeGuide intervention we have finished trialling has had such a big impact.'.
The LifeGuide software is also being used in studies to help people lose weight, stop smoking and cope with conditions including stroke, cancer, diabetes and pandemic flu.
View the findings on The Lancet website and learn more about LifeGuide at the Southampton University project pages.