Perceived influences of the Royal Navy environment on Personnel's weight management experiences Seminar

Overweight and obesity rates in the Royal Navy (RN) may be similar to the rates found in the general population. Although weight management support is available in the RN, some overweight and obese personnel struggle with their weight. There is evidence that web-based weight management programmes are a user-friendly, cost-effective way for facilitating people with their weight problems. Adapting an existing web-based weight loss programme (titled "Positive Online Weight Reduction") may be a cost effective way for lowering obesity rates in the RN that can be used in conjunction with existing support systems.

In this presentation I will talk about the findings from a qualitative study that aimed to understand overweight and obese RN personnel's perceptions of the influences of the naval environment on their weight management experiences. I will also describe the implications of the findings for modifying the POWeR intervention to increase the relevance of the content for overweight and obese RN personnel.

The use of both theory and user input when developing or modifying behaviour change interventions may increase users' adherence to the interventions.

Discussion question

What considerations should health researchers be making when adopting a dual approach (theory-based and user input) to intervention development or modification?