Who are we?
TALENT are a consortium of researchers from the UK, sub-Saharan Africa and India who have a special interest in adolescents and want to work together to develop interventions to improve adolescent nutrition and health in low and middle income countries (LMICs).
What are our aims?
To understand the dietary and physical activity behaviour of adolescents in LMICs, the factors that influence these and how they change through the course of adolescence. We will use this knowledge to co-develop (with adolescents and their families) effective interventions to improve adolescent nutrition.
What are our goals?
Overall we will address the following broad research questions in adolescent boys and girls, including food insecure and vulnerable groups, in different countries and urban, peri-urban and rural settings:
Our Research
A number of different methodologies have been adopted to answer these questions including a) qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, b) stakeholder engagement analysis, c) systematic reviews, and d) secondary analysis of data already collected by members of the consortium. We have held three workshops for early career researchers from the consortium to train them in how to collect, analyse and write-up the project data.
Implications for the future
TALENT's long-term goals are to use the findings from the GCRF funded formative work to design, develop and trial a complex intervention which aims to to improve diet and physical activity behaviours, and nutritional status among adolescents across sub-Saharan Africa and India.