Improving population health: how ‘Healthy Conversations’ can inspire change. A University of Southampton and University of Auckland collaboration.

The Southampton Initiative for Health’s ‘Healthy Conversations Skills’ (HCS) training has been shown to equip health care practitioners with sustainable skills they are able to use during routine contact with families, specifically aiming to improve self-efficacy and a sense of control over their diet and physical activity.

Practitioners have been able to demonstrate increased use of skills to support behaviour change at all time-points. One year post-training they were observed to use behaviour change skills significantly more often than a comparison group of practitioners who had not been trained. HCS training is now being rolled out more widely across other workforces who care for mothers and young children, explained Dr Wendy Lawrence, the training team Lead.

The Southampton Initiative for Health is now gaining international attention and Dr Lawrence has visited New Zealand as an advisor to Gravida: National Centre for Growth & Development at the University of Auckland, funded by the NZ Ministry of Health’s “Improving Maternal and Child Nutrition and Physical Activity Workforce Development Services” programme. Part of the programme involves Dr Lawrence working consultatively with a team of local clinical educators, Maori advisors, project stakeholders, scientists, researchers and public health experts to adapt HCS for use in the New Zealand cultural context. The plan is to include a blended-learning education curriculum covering both the latest scientific evidence in nutrition and physical activity research for mothers and young children, and an adaptation of the HCS training.

“I’ve been in New Zealand to look at how the HCS approach could be useful there, and to meet with as many organisations as possible to see how we could look to adapt what we have to be helpful for the needs of their workforce, and the women and families they look after,” Dr Lawrence said. She is returning to New Zealand in March to pilot the first round of training.

Dr Lawrence explained that the training approach was developed after many years of research, critical literature reviews into behaviour change, workforce needs assessments and relationship-building with local service providers in Southampton. It builds on the findings of the Southampton Women’s Survey, the world’s largest longitudinal cohort of women and their children from the time of pre-conception through to the children’s tenth birthday. This survey noted that the quality of mother’s diet had direct results on their children’s health and development. It also noted that education levels had a direct bearing on the quality of a mother’s diet, a finding which convinced local authorities to invest in a training programme that would give the workforce a framework for supporting change amongst their clients, particularly those living in the most disadvantaged circumstances.

Further information can be downloaded at the following links:

Barker M;Baird J;Lawrence W;Jarman M;Black C;Barnard K;Cradock S;Davies J;Margetts B;Inskip H;Cooper C; The Southampton Initiative for Health: a complex intervention to improve the diets and increase the physical activity levels of women from disadvantaged communities J Health Psychol 2011; 16: 178 – 191
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20709878

Lawrence W;Keyte J;Tinati T;Haslam C;Baird J;Margetts B;Swift J;Cooper C;Barker M; A mixed-methods investigation to explore how women living in disadvantaged areas might be supported to improve their diets J Health Psychol 2012; 17: 785 – 798
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22044913

Tinati T;Lawrence W;Ntani G;Black C;Cradock S;Jarman M et al Implementation of new Healthy Conversation Skills to support lifestyle changes - what helps and what hinders? Experiences of Sure Start Children's Centre staff Health Soc Care Community 2012; 20: 430 – 437
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3679516/

Black C;Lawrence W;Cradock S; Ntani G;Tinati T;Jarman M;Inskip H;Cooper C;Barker M;Baird J. Healthy Conversation Skills: increasing confidence and competence in front line staff. Public Health Nutrition doi:10.1017/S1368980012004089. E-pub ahead of print, 2012.

To watch Wendy’s lecture in NZ (including presentation slides), click here .

Dr Wendy Lawrence joined the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit in 2000 and completed her PhD on “Food Choices of Young Women with Lower Educational Attainment” in 2010. She is a Chartered Health Psychologist with a particular interest in translating research observations into activities to bring about behaviour change to improve population health. The main focus of her work in recent years has been the development, delivery and evaluation of the SIH’s training intervention to change staff practice, enhancing their skills for empowering patients/clients to improve their lifestyles.